bioplasticsMAGAZINE_1404

ISSN 1862-5258
Highlights
Biocomposites | 10
Blow Moulding | 22
July/August
04 | 2014
bioplastics magazine Vol. 9
BIOBOTTLE
Development project
for dairy bottles, p. 22
... is read in 91 countries

Caring for nature!
Be green!
The use of a renewable raw material was an
obvious step for Papyrus Supplies as it highlights
their ecological awareness and commitment. The
garbage bags supplied by Papyrus Supplies are
made from Green PE, a renewable raw material.
As these bags maintain the same properties as
their oil-based counterparts they are a suitable
sustainable substitute for consumers. Of course,
these bags once used, can be recycled into
the existing polyethylene recycling stream, thus
closing the loop.
Garbage Bags made from I‘m green Polyethylene
For more information visit
www.fkur.com • www.fkur-biobased.com

Editorial
dear
readers
In the last issue I asked whether the mass balance approach is a good idea
or a nice trick to be able to offer renewable or biobased plastics such as PE
or PP. Both Sabic and BASF have taken such approaches. Well, I’m happy
that we can publish the first comments from the nova institute, INRO and
ISCC on pp. 44. And I’m confident to get more feedback for our upcoming
issues.
But this is not the only political topic in this issue. Even if the paper, introduced
on page 30, discusses the incentive regulation for biofuels versus
material use of biomass in the European Union, the basic thoughts are
important enough to be read across the globe.
From the material side we have a focus on Biocomposites, showing that
research and development has significantly advanced in the recent past compared
to the wood-flour filled automotive door panels that have been around
for decades (rather for cost reasons than the renewable materials aspect).
The other editorial focus topics in this issue are blow moulding and bottle
applications, rounded off by a basic introduction of the stretch blow moulding
process to manufacture (mainly) PET but also PLA or (in future) PEF bottles.
Please also note our two new conferences, scheduled for 2015: For May
12th and 13th we would like to invite you to the bio!pac conference on
biobased packaging. It will be held in the Novotel in Amsterdam and the Call
for papers is now open. The second new conference for which we are already
also accepting proposals for presentations is bio!car, covering biobased
materials in automotive applications. This conference will be held in the autumn
of 2015, most probably in the automotive capital of Germany: Stuttgart.
Both conferences offer of course opportunities for sponsoring and table-top
exhibitors.
For now we hope you enjoy the summer, and of course …
reading bioplastics MAGAZINE
Sincerely yours
Michael Thielen
Follow us on twitter!
www.twitter.com/bioplasticsmag
Like us on Facebook!
www.facebook.com/bioplasticsmagazine
bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol.9 3

Content
04|2014 Jul/Aug
Biocomposites
Composites go green: Composites Europe. ..............10
Alea iacta est: WoodForce ............................12
Green composites: The coming New Age ................14
Natural fibre composites for injection mouldings .........15
Thin-walled composite structures. .....................16
Flax for high-tech applications ........................18
Editorial ............................. 3
News ............................. 5 - 8
Application News ..................... 28
Glossary ............................ 39
Event Calendar ....................... 49
Suppliers Guide ...................... 46
Companies in this issue ............... 50
Events
bio!pac .............................. 9
bio!car ............................... 9
Composites Europe ................... 10
Event Calendar ....................... 49
From Science & Research
Composites based on soybean hull. ....................20
Blow Moulding
Biodegradable packages for dairy products .............22
Avantium raises investment. ..........................23
100 million PLA bottles per year .......................24
Blow moulded air ducts made from bio-PA ..............25
Basics
Stretch blow moulding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26
Politics
Material use first! Proposal for a reform ................30
The bioplastics industry in Korea ......................42
Market
Green Premium: Who is willing to pay more? ............33
Report
Generation Zero: Bioplastics were the very beginning“. ....36
Opinion
Mass Balance ......................................44
Imprint
Publisher / Editorial
Dr. Michael Thielen (MT)
Samuel Brangenberg (SB)
contributing editor: Karen Laird (KL)
Layout/Production
Mark Speckenbach
Head Office
Polymedia Publisher GmbH
Dammer Str. 112
41066 Mönchengladbach, Germany
phone: +49 (0)2161 6884469
fax: +49 (0)2161 6884468
info@bioplasticsmagazine.com
www.bioplasticsmagazine.com
Media Adviser
Caroline Motyka
phone: +49(0)2161-6884467
fax: +49(0)2161 6884468
cm@bioplasticsmagazine.com
Print
Poligrāfijas grupa Mūkusala Ltd.
1004 Riga, Latvia
Print run: 3,800 copies
bioplastics MAGAZINE
ISSN 1862-5258
bM is published 6 times a year.
This publication is sent to qualified
subscribers (149 Euro for 6 issues).
bioplastics MAGAZINE is printed on
chlorine-free FSC certified paper.
bioplastics MAGAZINE is read in 91 countries.
Not to be reproduced in any form
without permission from the publisher.
The fact that product names may not be
identified in our editorial as trade marks is
not an indication that such names are not
registered trade marks.
bioplastics MAGAZINE tries to use British
spelling. However, in articles based on
information from the USA, American
spelling may also be used.
Editorial contributions are always welcome.
Please contact the editorial office via
mt@bioplasticsmagazine.com.
Envelopes
A part of this print run is mailed to the
readers wrapped in bioplastic envelopes
sponsored by Minima Technology (Taiwan)
Cover
Cover: Alliance | fotolia
4 bioplastics MAGAZINE [02/14] Vol. 9
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News
PlantBottle in the spotlight on Capitol Hill
Coke’s PlantBottle technology was
recognized last month on Capitol Hill as
one of the innovations helping to fuel the
bio-based manufacturing boom.
Scott Vitters, general manager of the
global PlantBottle platform, testified at
a hearing for the U.S. Senate Committee
on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry in
Washington, D.C. The June 17 session
examined the role products made from
agriculture crops instead of petroleumbased
chemicals are playing in revitalizing
American manufacturing, growing the
economy and creating jobs.
PlantBottle, Vitters explained, plays a vital role in achieving
the company’s long-term, zero-waste vision. PlantBottle
looks, functions and recycles just like traditional PET plastic,
but – being made up to 30% by wt. from plants - with a lower
dependence on fossil fuels and a lighter environmental
footprint. This innovation has removed more than 190,000
tonnes of CO 2
emissions since 2009, the equivalent of 500,000
barrels of oil.
Vitters highlighted the partnerships that have enabled
Coca-Cola distribute more than 25 billion PlantBottle
packages in 31 countries. The company
aims to convert 100 % of new PET
plastic used in its bottles to PlantBottle
technology by 2020.
To continue to meet global demand for
The Coca-Cola Company’s beverages,
maintain public trust and sustain growth,
we must transition from traditional,
fossil-based materials to renewable,
recyclable bio-based sources.
Following the hearing, the PlantBottle
team participated in a “Spotlight on
Innovation” expo, which highlighted
more than 30 innovators representing 25
states leading the charge in bio-based manufacturing. The
team spoke one-on-one with a Senators and Congressional
staff members, who were complimentary of the PlantBottle
program and commended Coke’s leadership on the
development of bio-based products. MT
An archived webcast of the hearing can be viewed
at http://1.usa.gov/1psqs43
(Source: Coca-Cola Journey, Unbottled-blog)
www.coca-colacompany.com
Meredian harvests first locally grown canola
Meredian, Inc. (Bainbridge, Georgia, USA) harvested its
first 400 hectares (1,000 acres) locally sourced canola crop in
Decatur County, Georgia in the second half of May.
The canola oil used in Meredian’s production is the single
most important, yet costly factor in their manufacturing
process. While theoretically, the company can use any plant
derived oil to convert carbon into biopolymers, canola is
the perfect option because it possesses the ability to be
grown locally, which cuts down on unnecessary and costly
transportation steps. Growing locally stimulates Georgia’s
economy, while allowing Meredian to continue their mission
of manufacturing biopolymers from renewable, natural
resources that equal or exceed petroleum-based plastics in
price and performance.
“We are thrilled about the
successful harvest of our pilot
canola fields,” said Paul Pereira,
Executive Chairman of the Board
of Directors at Meredian, Inc.
“The first harvest marks a major
milestone in meeting the full scale
needs of this facility.”
USDA certified scales and seed analysis equipment were
used to check and verify that the crop’s moisture content
was within specifications. In some parts of the 400 hectares
that were planted, more than 2,4 tonnes were produced per
hectare (43 bushels/acre). Despite the less than desirable
conditions the crop endured over the season, the canola was
healthy and undamaged. The success of this season supports
Meredian’s decision in choosing locally grown canola as their
major source to produce their completely biodegradable PHA.
The seeds that are not crushed to meet production needs
will be used for next year’s harvest, which will be planted
this fall and set to be harvested in Spring 2015. Based on
the interest of farmers, Meredian expects between 4,000
and 6,000 hectares of canola fields
to be planted this fall for Meredian.
Eventually, the company hopes to utilize
40,000 hectares to grow canola in order
to sustain the capacity of their 27,000
tonnes (60 million pound) fermentation
facility.MT
www.meredianinc.com
shutterstock
bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9 5

News
Heinz says tomato, Ford says tom-auto
However it’s pronounced, the humble tomato is
what has brought these two companies together.
Researchers at Ford and Heinz are investigating
the use of tomato fibers in developing sustainable,
composite materials for use in vehicle manufacturing.
Specifically, dried tomato skins could become the
wiring brackets in a Ford vehicle or the storage bin
a Ford customer uses to hold coins and other small
objects.
“We are exploring whether this food processing byproduct
makes sense for an automotive application,”
said Ellen Lee, plastics research technical specialist
for Ford. “Our goal is to develop a strong, lightweight
material that meets our vehicle requirements, while
at the same time reducing our overall environmental
impact.”
Nearly two years ago, Ford began collaborating with
Heinz, The Coca-Cola Company, Nike Inc. and Procter
& Gamble to accelerate development of a 100 % plantbased
plastic to be used to make everything from fabric
to packaging and with a lower environmental impact
than petroleum-based packaging materials currently
in use.
At Heinz, researchers were looking for innovative
ways to recycle and repurpose peels, stems and seeds
from the more than two million tons of tomatoes the
company uses annually to produce its best-selling
product: Heinz Ketchup. Leaders at Heinz turned to
Ford.
“We are delighted that the technology has been
validated,” said Vidhu Nagpal, associate director,
packaging R&D for Heinz. “Although we are in the very
early stages of research, and many questions remain,
we are excited about the possibilities this could
produce for both Heinz and Ford, and the advancement
of sustainable 100% plant-based plastics.”
Ford’s commitment to reduce, reuse and recycle is
part of the company’s global sustainability strategy to
lessen its environmental footprint while accelerating
development of fuel-efficient vehicle technology
worldwide. In recent years, Ford has increased its use
of recycled nonmetal and bio-based materials. With
cellulose fiber-reinforced console components and
rice hull-filled electrical cowl brackets introduced in
the last year, Ford’s bio-based portfolio now includes
eight materials in production. Other examples are
coconut-based composite materials, recycled cotton
material for carpeting and seat fabrics, and soy foam
seat cushions and head restraints.KL
www.ford.com
www.heinz.com
6 bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9

News
Trellis Earth To Acquire Cereplast Assets
Trellis Earth (Wilsonville, Oregon, USA) acquired a 110,000
square foot (10,000 m²) bioplastics production facility in June
in Seymour, Indiana from the defunct Cereplast which is being
liquidated in bankruptcy court. Trellis earth paid $2.6 million
(€ 1.9 million) for a factory, patent portfolio, and inventory
with a replacement value over $8 million (€ 5.9 million).
This acquisition will fast track the company’s large scale
injection molding and thermoforming operations in the
United States, as they bring in new finishing equipment to
this facility in the weeks and months ahead.
Trellis Earth announced they will be launching an all-new
product line with over 35 new cutlery SKUs, new clamshells,
and many other thermoformed products in what promises to
be the pre-eminent vertically integrated bioplastics factory
— anywhere!
“This marks a new chapter in our company’s evolution and
bodes well for the greening of the take-out component of the
American food service industry,” said Bill Collins, founder,
Chairman and President of Trellis Earth Products, Inc. in a
blog on the company’s website.
All Trellis Earth ® brand products made with their
sustainable corn starch blend, which they will produce in
Seymour, Indiana, have been scientifically proven by a 3rd
party research company to have a lower carbon footprint in
absolute terms than all comparable products made with any
alternative, conventional petrochemical plastic. MT
www.trellisearth.com
Biobased PET cups at SeaWorld
In mid July SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment (Orlando,
Florida, USA) debuted the first refillable plastic cup made
from bio-PET. Now available in all SeaWorld® and Busch
Gardens parks across the U.S., the reusable, 100% recyclable
plastic cup is manufactured using Coca-Cola’s proprietary
PlantBottle packaging technology.
“Working together, our two companies are using our
resources and reach to inspire people to make a difference,”
said SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment Corporate Vice
President of Culinary Operations Andrew Ngo. “Our friends
at The Coca-Cola Company share our commitment to
conservation, our passion for the planet, and our innovative
approach to consumer experiences. Even more important,
this appeals to our guests, who expect and reward recycling
and sustainability.”
SeaWorld’s switch to PlantBottle plastic in its refillable
cups is expected to remove 35 tonnes of CO 2
emissions
annually - the equivalent of saving more than 80 barrels of
oil a year.
SeaWorld takes Coca-Cola’s unique PlantBottle technology
to a new level, creating the first commercially available
consumer product: a refillable plastic cup.
“Once we fully realized the power of PlantBottle technology,
we knew it had real-world, global applications well beyond
our own products,” said Scott Vitters, general manager,
PlantBottle packaging platform, The Coca-Cola Company.
“This collaboration with SeaWorld demonstrates that
PlantBottle technology can be applied anywhere that PET
plastic is traditionally used, but with a lighter footprint on the
planet.”
Colorful in-park murals and point-of-purchase displays
promoting environmental advocacy will help inform park
guests of the new product.
SeaWorld eventually plans to use Coca-Cola’s PlantBottle
technology in the manufacture of many of its souvenir cups
and is actively exploring opportunities for its potential use in
the development of other merchandise. (Source: PRNewswire,
Photo: PRNewsFoto/SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment) MT
www.seaworldentertainment.com.
bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9 7

News
Visit our new online platform for NEWS
Tap into the online resources of the new bioplastics
MAGAZINE news platform!
You want to stay informed on a day-by-day basis?
This has become much easier now. The new “Newsplatform”
at news.bioplasticsmagazine.com now offers
a new online resource targeted at readers seeking a
medium that answers the need for reliable news and
informative content with immediate appeal. Visitors
will find new news-items every day now. Together with
the printed bioplastics MAGAZINE, and the new, biweekly
bioplastics MAGAZINE newsletter, it offers a platform for
professionals in the industry to reach out to prospective
partners, suppliers and customers across the globe.
The bioplastics MAGAZINE newsletter reaches a
targeted audience of some 7000 international bioplastics
professionals across all continents. The platform offers
readers up-to-date news and advertisers the power
to create integrated campaigns, built on interaction
between the different media channels and taking
advantage of the different strengths of each. For
advertisers, a perfect means to add value to opportunity.
Visit news.bioplasticsmagazine.com
(without www) every day to stay up-to-date.
Braskem invests € 10 million in new research
centre for biobased chemicals
Braskem, the leading producer of thermoplastic resins in the Americas, inaugurated a new Research and Development
Laboratory in early June in Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil. With BRL 30 million (EUR 10 million) in funds for 2014, the space
will focus on developing projects involving biotechnology and chemical processes derived from renewable resources,
which will further strengthen the company’s commitment to sustainable technological alternatives.
“Braskem has been investing heavily in innovation. We want Brazil to become a reference in the research and
development of technological routes that take advantage of the country’s competitive advantages in renewable resources.
Investing in new technology is essential, since it creates an environment that helps leverage the best ideas and projects
and creates a virtuous cycle of development for both Braskem and the country’s manufacturing industry. It’s the best way
for us to stay competitive,” said Edmundo Aires, Vice-President of Innovation and Technology at Braskem.
The laboratory has a staff of 33 researchers who will work on developing biochemical and chemical routes and
purification systems and seek out viable solutions on an industrial scale. Key projects include technologies for producing
green propylene and butadiene, metabolic engineering of microorganisms and continuous improvement in biobased
ethylene, which is used to make Braskem’s green plastic.
In addition to its specific competencies, the lab brings together various pieces of high-performance equipment, such as
the High Throughput Screening Robot (HTS), which is the most modern automated robot in use in South America and the
first used for this application in Brazil, which is capable of multiplying the work of a researcher by 1,000 fold.
Innovation is one of the main pillars of Braskem’s growth. In 2013, the company invested BRL 200 million
(EUR 67 million) in research and innovation projects, which is the same amount projected for this year. Expenditures are
being made in specialized professionals who are capable of working with highly complex management and technical
processes, as well as in new equipment and facilities. MT
www.braskem.com.br
8 bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9

io PAC
biobased packaging
conference
12/13 may 2015
novotel
amsterdam
bio CAR
Biobased materials for
automotive applications
conference
fall 2015
» Packaging is necessary.
» Packaging protects the precious goods
during transport and storage.
» Packaging conveys important messages
to the consumer.
» Good packaging helps to increase
the shelf life.
BUT:
Packaging does not necessarily need to be made
from petroleum based plastics.
biobased packaging
» is packaging made from mother nature‘s gifts.
» is packaging made from renewable resources.
» is packaging made from biobased plastics, from
plant residues such as palm leaves or bagasse.
» The amount of plastics in modern cars
is constantly increasing.
» Plastics and composites help achieving
light-weighting targets.
» Plastics offer enormous design opportunities.
» Plastics are important for the touch-and-feel
and the safety of cars.
BUT:
consumers, suppliers in the automotive industry and
OEMs are more and more looking for biobased
alternatives to petroleum based materials.
That‘s why bioplastics MAGAZINE is organizing this new
conference on biobased materials for the automotive
industry.
» offers incredible opportunities.
www.bio-pac.info
www.bio-car.info
CALL FOR
PAPERS
NOW OPEN
in cooperation with Biobased Packaging Innovations
www. biobasedpackaging.nl

Biocomposites / Events
Composites
go green:
Biocomposites at
COMPOSITES EUROPE 2014
www.composites-europe.com
Info:
1: The study can be downloaded form
http://www.bio-based.eu/markets
Materials made from wood flour, cotton, flax, jute or
even hemp are already being deployed as compression
moulding components, especially by the automotive
industry – with other trades increasingly following
suit. Biocomposites are steadily gaining in importance for
the future of the manufacturing sector, and COMPOSITES
EUROPE 2014 is set to present the full potential of these
bio-based composite materials from 7 th to 9 th October in
Düsseldorf, Germany.
A number of exhibitors specialising in biocomposites
will showcase their product solutions at COMPOSITES
EUROPE. Michael Carus, the managing director of the novainstitute
(Hürth, Germany), which will also be exhibiting at
Composites Europe 2014, already sees a positive trajectory
for biocomposites being used in a range of manufacturing
applications. “In 2012, about 100 companies in the EU
produced more than 350,000 tonnes of wood- and naturalfibres
reinforced biocomposites. The majority of these
products were extruded into decking using wood flour and
wood fibres (wood-plastic composites, WPC). Natural fibres
are deployed primarily for use as compression-moulding
parts in car interiors. In 2012, about 90,000 tonnes of these
natural fibre composites (NFC) were used by automobile
manufacturers across Europe. The combined share of
WPC and NFC biocomposites has already reached 15% of
the total composites market.
In a recent study 1 , the nova-institute laid out a number
of different scenarios for the future unfolding of the
biocomposites landscape. Says Carus: “A favourable
political and economic framework has been creating
clear forward momentum, particularly for injection and
compression moulding, which will replace significant
amounts of conventional composite materials. This would
greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. At COMPOSITES
EUROPE, the institute will participate in a group stand
focussed on bio-based composites while offering project
development and consultation services in areas such as
bio-based materials, techno-economic evaluation and eco
balancing.
Key players at COMPOSITES EUROPE
What’s more, the industry’s leading enterprises will be
on hand as well. So far, exhibitors in Composites Europe’s
biocomposites segment include the Belgian companies
Armacell Benelux, Basaltex nv and Beologic. Additionally,
the Swiss firm Bcomp, the European Industrial Hemp
Association based in Hürth, the Dresden/Germany nonprofit
Forum Technologie und Wirtschaft e.V. and the
weaving mill Güth & Wolf (Gütersloh/Germany) will present
their solutions in this area. The roster also includes
Isowood from Rudolstadt and Jakob Winter from Nauheim
(both Germany). Displays will focus primarily on materials
based on wood and natural fibres such as flax and hemp.
Biowert from Brensbach/Germany will present materials
containing meadow grass. On show will be natural-fibre
needle felt nonwovens for compression moulding parts as
well as a variety of product solutions made from naturalfibre
compression moulding parts – specialty cases, for
example – and technical foams and insulation materials.
MT
10 bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9

PRESENTS
2014
THE NINTH ANNUAL GLOBAL AWARD FOR
DEVELOPERS, MANUFACTURERS AND USERS OF
BIO-BASED PLASTICS.
Call for proposals
Enter your own product, service or development, or nominate
your favourite example from another organisation
Please let us know until August 31st:
1. What the product, service or development is and does
2. Why you think this product, service or development should win an award
3. What your (or the proposed) company or organisation does
Your entry should not exceed 500 words (approx 1 page) and may also
be supported with photographs, samples, marketing brochures and/or
technical documentation (cannot be sent back). The 5 nominees must be
prepared to provide a 30 second videoclip
More details and an entry form can be downloaded from
www.bioplasticsmagazine.de/award
The Bioplastics Award will be presented during the
9 th European Bioplastics Conference
December 2013, Brussels, Belgium
supported by
Sponsors welcome, please contact mt@bioplasticsmagazine.com
bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/13] Vol. 8 11

Biocomposites
Alea
iacta est
For a new generation
of biocomposites
The innovative Wood Force technology was developed by
Sonae Industria SGPS (Maia, Portugal), a leading wood
panel manufacturer. Sonae has 50 years of wood processing
experience with 24 plants internationally.
The main objective behind Wood Force was to develop
an engineered wood fiber dice technology as the leading
natural fiber reinforcement solution to substitute glass
fiber reinforced compound. A secondary market target
is as a replacement for mineral fillers in weight reduction
applications for composites.
The idea was to develop a mass produced and cost effective,
easy and ready to use, reliable and consistent natural fiber
technology for the compounding and injection molding
industries. The target was the thermoplastic compound
market in automotive, packaging, appliance, electronics and
consumer markets by manufacturing and supplying locally
the same product worldwide to multinational OEMs.
The Innovation
The innovative Wood Force technology is using the well
known MDF industrial process to mass produce refined
softwood fibres. Which are then seized with a patented
dispersing technology. In the next step the resulting panel
is diced for easy gravimetric dosing in the process of
thermoplastic extrusion. Thus, a significant reinforcement
can be achieved by keeping a high Length/Diameter ratio of
the dispersed wood fibre after injection.
WoodForce is a significant breakthrough as it delivers on
three major requirements to succeed in today’s complex
industrial environment: WoodForce delivers superior
performance. It is an industrially friendly material, and
WoodForce is environmentally fit.
Mechanical Properties
Independent research institutions have validated the superior
mechanical properties of the new material. The end result is
an engineered wood fibre delivering great improvements in
tensile and flexural performance. WoodForce is compatible
with the major polymers, PP and PE, as well as ABS, TPE,
PLA and PBS.
However, today, performance is no longer strictly about
mechanical properties. Industries have to take a holistic
view on technology and take into account issues such carbon
footprint, end-of-life management, weight reduction...
The MDF production process guarantees WoodForce dice
are always consistently performing, contaminant-free with
stable fibre sizes and have constant moisture content yearround.
MDF plants have a very stable wood fibre mix. Timber
is historically sourced from a natural wood basket within a
100-150 km radius around the plants.
Izod Notched
Impact
Tensile
Modulus
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Tensile
Strength
Woodforce
Glass
Physicals
Sustainability
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Recyclability
Flexural
Strength
Flexural
Modulus
Economics
Weight
Old Map
New Map
12 bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9

Biocomposites
WoodForce: 5mm x 5mm x 3mm
pellets of refined wood fibres
Enhanced Design
WoodForce has a major benefit in relation to pigments
and dyes. The result is an enhanced use of colouration that
provides significant design opportunities in multiple colours.
The colouration of the compound is a built in process to dye
the product during the production process. Using automotive
applications as an example, WoodForce Black provides a
superior finish on moulded parts (hiding the fibre completely)
and opens up the potential for use in visible applications.
Weight Reduction
Wood fibre allows a significant weight reduction of reinforced
plastics with equal mechanical properties relative to similar
applications with glass or minerals. Wood fibre density is
significantly less than that of glass fibre and mineral fillers.
At equal mechanical properties, WoodForce reinforced parts
or products have a weight reduction potential of up to 15%.
Weight reduction is a significant area of strategic importance
in automotive applications currently.
Easy to use / Ready to use
Industrial processing of natural fibre had been a major
barrier to mass-market applications. Therefore the product
was designed with the compounding industry in mind.
It is compatible with existing extrusion equipment, and
compatible with global and large-scale industrial operations.
The dice are very easy to dose during the extrusion process
without complications as it is used with standard dosing
equipment and does not require any chopping or preparation.
It is easy to meter with good flow ability, so that bio-sourced
reinforcement does not result in inefficient compounding
operations.
WoodForce is currently commercialized in its natural or
black colour. It is also available with a standard moisture
content (5-10%) as well as pre-dried (less than 2% moisture
content) as a ready-to-use product.
Renewable and Sustainable
The use of WoodForce reduces petroleum consumption,
increases the use of renewable resources, helps better
manage the carbon cycle, and may contribute to reducing
adverse environmental and health impacts. Sonae Indústria
recognises and supports forest certification organisations,
purchasing FSC as well as PEFC certified wood.
The production process consumes far less energy than that
of glass fibre production. The wood fibre is sourced locally
within 100-150 km of the plants and wood fibre, by its very
nature, is a renewable resource capturing and storing CO 2
thus contributing to improve the environment.
Thermoplastics reinforced with WoodForce have a far
superior recyclability than fibreglass filled compounds.
After two cycles, the material retains a much higher level of
mechanical properties than glass fibre compounds. At the
end of its life, thermoplastic reinforced with wood fibre can
be burnt to generate energy.
WoodForce is a great partner for bioplastics
Significant progress has been made in the development of
better performing and cost effective thermoplastics derived
from renewable and sustainable vegetable sources. The
logical reinforcing partners cannot be the traditional glass
fibre solutions. In order to preserve the more favourable
carbon footprint profile, bioplastics will need natural
fibre partners like WoodForce in order to design a 100%
sustainable solution. MT
www.woodforce.com
bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9 13

Biocomposites
Green
composites:
The coming
New Age
www.human.cornell.edu/bio.cfm?netid=ann2
John Deere 6M Series Tractors
(Photo: Courtesy John Deere)
Past few decades have seen significant growth in the use
of high strength fiber reinforced composites fabricated
using carbon, aramid and glass fibers and reins such
as expoxy, unsaturated polyester or polyurethanes. However,
both fibers and resins used in these composites are made using
petroleum, a non-sustainable raw material. In addition,
most commercial composites are also non-degradable. This
poses a serious disposal problem. While there are some efforts
to solve the disposability issues through incineration (to
recover energy), recycling (grinding into powder for use as
filler) or reclaiming fibers (for secondary applications), we are
still far away from having an eco-friendly end-of-life solution.
Over 90% of the composites, at present, end up in landfills
after their intended life. With ever-growing use of composites
the end-of-life issue is only expected to get bigger and
increasingly difficult and expensive.
Greener Composites
Significant research conducted in greening of plastics and
composites has led to the development of new generations
of plastics and composites that are not only derived from
sustainable plant-based resources but are fully biodegradable.
As a result, many plant-based fibers such as ramie, sisal,
hemp, flax, jute, bamboo, sugarcane bagasse and others
are increasingly being used with non-degradable resins
such as polypropylene (PP), nylons, polyesters, etc., to form
composites that may be called greener composites.
Green Composites
Research is also being conducted to develop fully
green composites that combine biodegradable fibers and
sustainably derived resins such as polylactic acid (PLA),
polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) and their copolymers,
polybutylene succinate (PBS), etc., as well as those derived
from plant-based starches, proteins and lipids or oils.
Composites based on crosslinked oils (non-degradable),
being inexpensive, have hit the markets, e.g. for parts of John
Deere tractors.
Advanced Green Composites
A new process to produce high strength liquid crystalline
cellulose (LCC) fibers developed at the Groningen University
(The Netherlands) has opened up the possibility to make
high strength green composites by combining them with
biodegradable resins. The LCC fibers have high stiffness (over
40 GPa) and strength (over 1.7 GPa). Being in continuous form
conventional fiber placing machines can be easily used for
these fibers.
Composites made using the LCC fibers and soy protein
based resins have been shown to possess excellent strength
and toughness to be termed as ‘Advanced Green Composites’.
LCC fibers treated by KOH (potassium hydroxide) solution, a
process similar to mercerization used for cotton fibers, under
tension have shown to significantly improve their strength
and modulus by increasing fiber molecular orientation and
crystallinity and thus increasing the composite properties
further. For example, composites of LCC fibers (41.5% by wt)
made with soy protein based resins resulted in strength of
over 625 MPa. With fiber volume of 65%, which is common for
most composites, the estimated strength of these advanced
green composites was over 1 GPa. Interestingly the toughness
of such composites was comparable to those based on Kevlar ®
fibers which are commonly used for ballistic applications.
We can expect many such new developments which are at
the research stage to come to market in the near future. These
fully sustainable green composites, while easily protected
during their use, can be biodegraded or composted at the
end of their life and hence nothing has to go to the landfills.
In fact, when composted, these composites can complete
the nature’s intended carbon cycle. Sustainability, green
chemistry, cradle-to-cradle design, industrial ecology, etc.
are not just newly coined words but have become the guiding
principles for the development of new generation of green
materials. Composites are no exception to this new paradigm.
As major manufacturers embrace these developments, the
green composites can only be expected to play a major role in
greening the future products. MT
14 bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9

Biocomposites
Natural fibre composites
for injection moulding
Next to their standard material classes ARBOFORM ® and ARBOBLEND ® ,
Tecnaro have managed to develop natural fibre composites optimized for
processing by injection moulding – ARBOFILL ® . In the meantime further
production processes such as extrusion blow moulding and thermoforming were
successfully carried out with grades of this material class.
These materials are especially interesting for applications where good heat
resistance, scratch and creep resistance are required, while an economical
substitution of fossil resources is desired. Additionally they offer an appealing
appearance, often intuitively understood as natural by the end consumer, without
any further explanation.
While compounds of natural fibres and polymers are already fairly common
in applications such as decking, fencing and fascias, produced by the extrusion
processes, injection moulded parts are still a rather rare sight, although very
interesting for a large number of uses.
Assuming proper pre-drying (which is necessary for many standard polymers,
such as ABS and polyesters) the material can be easily processed with comparable
processing properties to standard polyolefins, gaining a smooth surface at
moderate mould temperatures of 30°- 40°C. As the material can be processed
at slightly lower temperatures, additional energy savings in the production can
be achieved. That of course comes on top of the replacement of fossil resources,
which can be as high as almost 100% when the matrix material is also adjusted
(at Tecnaro found among the Arboform and Arboblend grades).
The performance and processing properties described above have already
led to several products made of Arbofill In series production they are mainly
household articles (photo) and stationery, but the material is also found in
applications such as furniture.
Before a major player in the food preparation and storage business accepted
a special series made of Arbofill, the material was (literally) put to the acid test.
Starting with food contact conformity, through thousands of cycles in the dish
washer and completed by the above mentioned tests on resistance to several
aggressive chemicals. The Brazilian household goods company Coza have used
Arbofill materials in their portfolio for several years now, and it has properly
withstood the tropical climate since 2009.
The compost bin introduced by Rotho (photo) is a very nice example of a
coloured natural fibre composite, which allows for an even broader aesthetic
appearances than the application of different fibre grades. The compatibility of
Arbofill with standard polyolefins enables the use of common master batches
and leading to easy colouring.
Good scratch and especially creep resistance could be proven in the application
of a backrest for an office chair (photo). Compared to unreinforced and unfilled
polyolefin the low warpage and shrinkage are also crucial in this part.
Aesthetic aspects played a major role when one famous Italian fashion brand
introduced this material for their hangers - Benetton. This underlines the
innovative and appealing character that natural fibre reinforced composites can
show, with a premium touch compared to conventional plastics.
Through several national and international R&D projects as well as in-house
development, Tecnaro is continuously working (among many others) on the
improvement of natural fibre reinforced materials, one of which is Arbofill. The
company is testing various newly available fibres and fibre qualities for their
addition to the property portfolio, and also investigating improvements in the
compounding process.
www.tecnaro.de
(Photo: Samas)
(Photo: Rotho)
(Photo: Coza)
bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9 15

Biocomposites
Thin-walled
composite structures
with improved stiffness- and damping properties
normalized specific flexural stiffness [-]
1.2 -
1.1 -
1.0 -
0.9 -
0.8 -
0.7 -
carbon
carbon + powerRibs
flax + powerRibs
0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.010 0.012 0.014
loss factor, ξ [-]
Figure 2. Plot of normalized specific
flexural stiffness vs. loss factor.
Fig. 1: Dry Bcomp powerRibs lying on a biax flax
fabric (left) and example of a part after impregnation
and consolidation with an epoxy resin (right)
Natural fibre composites have gained significant attention
over the last couple of years. However, these novel
materials struggle to establish themselves at a large
scale in the composites industry, despite their outstanding
specific mechanical properties. This is mostly due to the fact
that natural fibre preform suppliers have been very much focusing
on mimicking their glass fibre preform counterparts,
at significantly higher price-performance ratios often beyond
the acceptance of the market.
Since its founding in 2011, Bcomp (Fribourg, Switzerland)
has been focusing on understanding the specificity of natural
fibers and their composites, and developing corresponding
technologies bringing striking benefits – in addition to the
lower ecological footprint – to the end product. Bcomp’s
strong R&D focus has further been strengthened through
nationally- and EU funded collaborations with leading
academic partners, such as the Swiss Federal Institute
of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), The University of Applied
Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland FHNW, or the
Katholic University of Leuven (Belgium). In only three years,
Bcomp managed to implement their product solutions in
various industries such as Sports and Leisure, Consumer
Electronics and Mobility, achieving thereby a significant
market share and boosting the company’s sales.
Bcomp’s powerRibs technology (pat. pend.) consists of a
natural fibre grid fabric resulting in ribs in the millimeter
thickness range on the surface of composite parts, leading
to a significant increase of the bending stiffness of thin fibre
composite shell elements by adding minimal weight. During
the two past years, Bcomp developed the ideal flax yarn and
textile process for the powerRibs technology with its partners,
taking maximum advantage of the flax’ high stiffness-toweight
ratio and low density. Recently, the product has
attracted a lot of attention in the Composites industry, and
was awarded the Swiss Excellence Product Award 2013 and
the Certificate of Material Excellence 2013 by renowned US
material consultant Material ConneXion. In parallel, Bcomp
is currently working on the qualification of the material with
global leaders of the Automotive industry. An example of dry
powerRibs fabric and its integration into a composite part is
shown in Fig. 1.
16 bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9

Biocomposites
By
Christian Fischer
managing director, co-founder
Bcomp Ltd., Fribourg, Switzerland
www.bcomp.ch
Prior Bcomp studies and market applications have shown
that the company’s natural composite solutions offer a great
potential for the use in thin-walled composite structures
requiring a high level of damping. This is due to the flax
fibres’ unique combination of high stiffness-to-weight ratio,
their significantly lower density when compared to carbon
fibres, and their very high damping properties.
In the framework of the Swiss Space Center’s Call for
Ideas 2013, Bcomp has proposed to develop a new hybrid
composite solution. By mixing carbon- and flax fibres in a
specific way, and using Bcomp’s powerRibs technology, the
aim consisted of developing a composite material with a so
far unparalleled combination of specific flexural stiffnessand
damping properties. The resulting thin-walled material
would offer a novel alternative for structural shell elements
in lightweight satellite structures, where high stiffness- and
strength, low weight, and high damping properties are of
high importance.
Using two different strategies, namely (i) carbon-flaxcarbon
micro-sandwich structures for enhanced stiffness
and constrained layer damping in the flax layers, and (ii)
Bcomp’s powerRibs technology, using flax fibre grids for the
highly efficient reinforcement of composite shell elements,
eight different layups were defined. Their specific flexural
stiffness and damping performance were measured and
compared with each other, showing a potential increase
of both parameters using approach (i) by approx. 15 %,
respectively. Approach (ii) yielded very significant damping
improvements, with a specimen outperforming the reference
carbon sample by 250 % at an equivalent specific stiffness.
The results are summarized in Figure 2.
While this study has clearly demonstrated the great
potential of such material systems in space applications
requiring high stiffness and damping at low weight, some
phenomena still need to be understood, and there is a
great potential to further optimize the presented concepts.
Additional tests would be needed to understand whether
the surface damping approach – the powerRibs being an
extreme example of it – would generally yield better results
with these carbon-flax hybrid composite structures than
the constrained layer damping approach studied within this
project, and the powerRibs can be further optimized to increase
the flexural stiffness of the samples using this method.
Furthermore, further studies would need to analyse influence
of temperature, different stress- or strain levels, and further
specifications in the use for given space applications, to name
only few.
bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9 17

Biocomposites
Flax for
high-tech
applications
High Vibration
in carbon
Damped Vibration
thanks to FlaxPly
Shock, Impact, Force
Carbon layer
FlaxPly
Carbon layer
Flax fibres are offering the best mechanical properties on
the natural fibres market and are thus increasingly used
as an environmentally friendly reinforcement for different
applications. Their specific properties, which are higher
than those of glass fibres, come in combination with interesting
cost and weight reductions.
Since flax fibres are easily and massively available
near the facilities of Lineo NV (St Martin du Tilleul,
France), the company is focused on the use of flax fibre
for the development of its products. “We found that low
environmental impact is not the only advantage of flax fibres.
Their intrinsic technical properties can also make significant
contributions to improving the performance of the finished
product,” says Lineo’s CEO Francois Vanfleteren. Lineo’s
portfolio comprises FlaxPreg, FlaxPly and FlaxTape,
introduced in the following examples by some interesting
business cases.
FlaxPreg
With the help of FlaxPreg, a new method of combining
the damping properties of flax with the well-known high
performance of carbon fibre is being used to make bicycles
which will dampen vibration and provide more comfort for
the riders.
The ultimate technical goal was to combine the damping
properties of flax with the well-known high performance of
carbon fibre without sacrificing mechanical performance.
Using hybrid technology to combine flax fibres and carbon
fibres, up to 25% of flax fibres have been used for different
parts of bicycles with a flax/epoxy commercial prepreg (preimpregnated
composite fibres), made from a unique yarn
treatment and impregnation process, which overcomes past
technology problems of working with flax.
When optimally engineered, a carbon-flax structure can
exhibit significantly higher damping behaviour than its
full-carbon counterpart of equal weight. In addition to the
increased damping the right use of flax layers simultaneously
improves the buckling strength and stiffness of the composite
part by up to 25%.
Once more, this is due to the lower density of flax fibres.
Thus, when replacing an intermediate carbon layer by a flax
layer of equal weight, the distance between the remaining top
and bottom carbon layers is increased, resulting in a carbonflax-carbon
sandwich structure with higher stiffness than the
full-carbon reference part.
“Initially working with FlaxPreg was quite challenging, but
the hurdles have been overcome, and now it is possible for
new products to contain more FlaxPreg“, said Francois.
Intrinsic flame resistance is another property which will
be explored and will certainly make flax fibres attractive to
other markets, such as transport. Major markets to benefit
from the new eco-friendly technology are sports, leisure,
furniture and transport, with cycling and tennis being the first
sectors where the technology has been put into commercial
production.
FlaxPly
FlaxPly is a family of semi-finished flax-fibre products
available in (UD) unidirectional and balanced fabrics. The
products are compliant with main thermoset resins on the
market and are suitable for many applications in marine
18 bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9

Biocomposites
or architectural markets. FlaxPly can be used with all wet
processes such as infusion, hand lay-up, RTM, VARTM, etc.
Lineo supplied FlaxPly reinforcements for the first ever
racing boat prototype to incorporate up to 50% of natural flax
fibre in the composite structure. The boat, which has been
called the Araldite takes its name from Huntsman’s award
winning Araldite ® range of products. It is a 6.5m long and
3m wide, ergonomic, lightweight Mini Transat racing boat
prototype – the smallest offshore racing boat allowed to
cross the Atlantic.
Designed by Regis Garcia to showcase the possibilities of
incorporating flax fibres into the composite structure of an
open sea sailing prototype, the boat was built at the wellknown
IDB Marine de Tregunc shipyard in Brittany, France.
With acceptance and funding received from C.I.P.A.LIN,
the French Interprofessional Committee for the Agricultural
Production of Flax, the project has been completed in just
over 12 months.
FlaxTape
FlaxTape is the best flax reinforcement on the market, in
terms of performance and price.
The cost of yarn production is prohibitive. The manufacture
of a yarn involves several processing steps. For example,
the production of a conventional flax yarn usually requires
scutching, hackling, four to six passes of drawing and the
final spinning operations. The cost of the final spinning
operation alone typically accounts about half of the total cost
of the whole fibre-to-yarn process. The weaving of yarns
into a fabric is another labour-intensive and costly process,
involving warp preparation, threading, weft preparation and
weaving.
Significant cost savings can be realized if a highly aligned
reinforcement structure can be produced without involving
the expensive spinning and weaving operation.
Lineo worked to find processes for converting fibres directly
into a unidirectional non-woven tape that can compete with
unidirectional yarns and woven fabrics in final composite
mechanical performance.
The result is FlaxTape, a tape of unidirectional natural
flax fibres that offers a number of advantages because it
is produced without involving any spinning and weaving
operations: FlaxTape doesn’t need treatment to improve
wettability because its wettability is already very good. The
flat product needs less resin than other traditional products.
In comparison to flax fabric, which cannot be produced
lighter than 150 g/m², FlaxTape Lineo can produce very light
reinforcements down to 50 g/m².
“With the FlaxPly and the FlaxPreg, we showed that flax
fibre reinforcements have a real interest in the world of
composites. But compared to glass fibre reinforcements
flax fabrics are too expensive. To have a chance to gain other
markets (like transport), it was necessary to go further, do
better. And with the FlaxTape we succeeded!”, François
Vanfleteren said.
Application examples are musical instruments or sandwich
panels for automotive applications [1]. MT
[1]: Khalfallah, M. et.al.: Flax/Acrodur® sandwich panel:
an innovative eco-material for automotive applications;
jec composites magazine / No89 May 2014
www.lineo.eu
bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9 19

From Science & Research
Fig. 1: (from left): Soy hull | PHBV | PLA | PHBV-PLA-soy hull composites
Composites based on
soybean hull
Soybean hull is one of the most widely available field
crop residues obtained during the extraction of soy
bean oil. Normally it is discarded as waste or used as
animal feed after enrichment. The low cost, and with high
fiber content, soy hull and its utilization in green composites
has the potential to create extra revenue for the farmers. Using
soy hull might be another way of making affordable injection
molded biocomposites with specific desired mechanical
properties.
Recent studies performed by the authors have focussed
on the fabrication of green composites from a blend of
bioplastics, polyhydroxybutyrate-co-valarate (PHBV: 70 % by
weight) and polylactide (PLA: 30 % by weight) reinforced with
soy hull (Fig. 1) [1]. It was observed that the composites have
a low density compared to the composites reinforced with
traditional fibers (carbon and glass) [2].
The hydrophilic nature of biofibers adversely affects its
compatibility with the hydrophobic polymeric matrices.
Also, there is a concern of agglomeration of biofibers in
the biopolymer as the fiber loading increases which may
lead to the poor dispersion of biofiber in the matrix phase
resulting in the reduction of mechanical performance of the
Flexural strength (MPa)
70
56
42
28
14
0
Flexural strength
Impact strength
A B C D E
Fig. 2: A: Neat PP B:PP+30% soy hull C: PHBV/PLA(70:30) D: PHBV/
PLA+30% soy hull E: mPHBV/PLA+30% soy hull
Impact strength (J/M)
material. Different surface treatment techniques for fibers
and compatibilizers have been reported to increase the fiber
matrix adhesion [3]. In this work, an isocyanate terminated
compatibilizer, Krasol, has been used to improve the
physico-mechanical properties of the green composites. The
mechanical performance of the composites were compared
with the corresponding polypropylene based composites and
are given in Fig. 2. From the figure it is clear that incorporation
of soy hull reduced the strength of the composite which is
common in case of biocomposites and is attributed to the
poor adhesion between the fiber and matrices. However, a
significant enhancement in the flexural strength (20%) and
impact strength (35%) of the modified composite (mPHBV/
PLA/ soy hull) over corresponding unmodified composites
were observed by using 10 PHR of the compatibilizer in the
PHBV/PLA/soy hull composites. No enhancement in the heat
deflection temperature (HDT) and stiffness of the modified
composites were observed.
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images given in
Fig. 3 showed the covering of fibers by polymeric matrices
in modified composites. Less evidence of fiber fracture and
pull out in the modified composites than in the unmodified
composites suggesting a strong fiber matrix adhesion.
One of the major advantages of using PHBV and PLA
polymers is that they are 100% biodegradable and recyclable
[4]. The biodegradation of PHBV and PLA is influenced by
several factors like moisture level, temperature and pH.
Since the fibers are hydrophilic they tend to absorb moisture
which helps in the hydrolysis of the ester group present in
the biopolymers to form oligomers [5]. These oligomers are
easily degraded by micro-organisms hence have the ability to
uplift the land fill shortages.
Based on the observed properties of the modified green
composites, some prototype materials, like storage bins and
leaf rakes etc., were fabricated and are presented in Figure 4.
It was found that that the composite can easily be coated with
a pigment to give a desired color.
Acknowledgements: The authors appreciate the financial
support provided by the Hannam Soy Bean Utilization fund-
2008 (HSUF) for this project.
20 bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9

Fig. 3: SEM images of A) PHBV-PLA/30 wt% soy
hull B) m PHBV-PLA+30 wt% soy hull
biopolymere.
ROHSTOFFE – TECHNOLOGIEN – PRODUKTE
4. Kooperationsforum mit Fachausstellung
By:
Malaya Nanda, Sandeep Ahankari
Saswata Sahoo, Manjusri Misra, Amar Mohanty
University of Guelph
Guelph, Ontario, Canada
[1] M. R. Nanda, M. Misra, and A.K. Mohanty. Mechanical
performance of soy hull reinforced bioplastic green composites:
A comparison with polypropylene composites. Macromol. Mater.
Eng. 2012, 297,184-194.
[2] M. R. Nanda, M. Misra, and A.K. Mohanty. Performance evaluation
of biofibers and their hybrids as reinforcements in bioplastic
composites. Macromol.Mater.Eng.2013, 298, 779-788.
[3] M. Avella, G. Bogoeva-Gaceva, A. Buzarovska, M. E. Errico, G.
Gentile, A. Grozdanov, Poly(lactic acid)-based biocomposites
reinforced with kenaf fibers J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2008, 108,
3542-3551.
[4] M. R. Nanda, M. Misra, A. K. Mohanty, The effects of process
engineering on the performance of PLA and PHBV blends
Macromol. Mater. Eng., 2011, 296, 719-728.
[5] C.Nyambo, A.K. Mohanty, M.Misra, Polylactide-based
renewablegreen composites from agricultural residues and their
hybrids. Biomacromolecules, 2010,11,1654-1660
BILDNACHWEIS Clairant GmbH
Joseph-von-Fraunhofer-Halle
Straubing, 21. Oktober 2014
ANMELDUNG www.bayern-innovativ.de/biopolymere2014
KOMPETENZFELD
material.
Netzwerk LifeScience
Fig. 4: Leaf rake, Storage bin
bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9 21

Blow Moulding
Biodegradable packages
for dairy products
The Technological Institute of Plastic (AIMPLAS, Valencia,
Spain) has been coordinating a European two-year
research project in which eight partners participate
in the search for a new material, biodegradable and resistant
to thermal treatments, to be used in the manufacture
dairy products. The project, started in May 2013, is called
BIOBOTTLE and its aim is creating multilayer and monolayer
plastic bottles, as well as bags to package dairy products
and which are not required to be separated from the rest of
the organic wastes at the end of their brief lifespan.
Europe is the biggest consumer of dairy products in
the world, with an average of 261 kg per capita per year,
according to the data provided by FAO in 2011. It supposes
the generation of an important volume of waste, principally
high density polyethylene bottles. This material is completely
recyclable and its post-consumption management should
not be a problem, but, in fact, only between 10% and 15% of
it is recycled, according to data in 2012.
Milk bottles and bags are packages which can be used
only once, so a big volume of waste is generated. In addition,
an exhaustive high temperature washing is required in
recycling to eliminate any waste products and subsequent
odours. So, it is especially interesting for the dairy industry,
and an added value for the manufacturers, to introduce the
elaboration of packages which can be thrown away when
they are used, along with the rest of the organic wastes. For
this, AIMPLAS and the rest of BIOBOTTLE’s partners are
working on developing a biodegradable material which allows
manufacturing of big multilayer bottles or bags, like the ones
used for milk or milkshakes, as well as the monolayer bottles,
which are smaller, used to package probiotic products.
Biodegradable and resistant to sterilization and
pasteurization
One of the main difficulties with which the researchers of
this project must deal is finding a biodegradable material
which complies with the same requirements of the traditional
packages currently in use, including the resistance to thermal
treatments such as the sterilization or pasteurization. For this,
it is expected to modify the current commercial biodegradable
materials through reactive extrusion to overcome the thermal
limitations in the current biodegradable ones available in the
market.
BIOBOTTLE is a European Project in the Seventh Framework
Programme, with a fund of €1 million. Seven companies
and technological centers from five different countries work
with AIMPLAS: Germany (VLB), Bélgica (OWS), Italy (CNR),
Portugal (VIZELPAS y ESPAÇOPLAS) and Spain (ALMUPLAS
y ALJUAN). MT
www.aimplas.es
[iStockphoto/monticelllo]
22 bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9

Blow Moulding
(Composing:
bioplastics MAGAZINE/iStockphoto/Berc)
Avantium
raises €36Mio Investment
On June 5, 2014 Avantium (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
announced that it has closed a financing round
of €36 million ($50 million) from a consortium of iconic
strategic players. This unique consortium consists of Swire
Pacific, The Coca-Cola Company, Danone, Alpla, and existing
shareholders. With this capital raise the new investors affirm
their commitment to advancing PEF, Avantium’s next generation
packaging material. Proceeds will be used to complete
the industrial validation of PEF and finalize the engineering
& design of the first commercial scale plant. As part of its
strategy to use responsibly sourced plant based materials for
PEF production, Avantium will validate the use of 2 nd generation
feedstock.
Follow on investments were made by existing shareholders
Sofinnova Partners, Capricorn Venture Partners, ING
Corporate Investments, Aescap Venture, Navitas Capital,
Aster Capital and De Hoge Dennen Capital.
Tom van Aken, CEO Avantium stated: “Closing this financing
round with Swire, The Coca-Cola Company, Danone, ALPLA
and our existing investors underpins their commitment to
making PEF bottles a commercial success. PEF is a 100%
biobased plastic with superior performance compared to
today’s packaging materials and represents a tremendous
market opportunity. Our proprietary YXY technology to make
PEF has been proven at pilot plant scale as we are now
moving to commercial deployment.“
Philippe Lacamp, Swire Pacific’s Head of Sustainable
Development said, “We are excited to invest in Avantium,
which has an impressive track record in developing
breakthrough technology. This investment aligns with our
sustainable development strategy to build and develop a
portfolio of promising early stage sustainable technologies to
reach commercial scale.
The technology that Avantium supplies represents a
pathway to the next generation of bio-based packaging
materials, and has huge potential application for our existing
bottling businesses.”
Yu Shi, Director Next Generation Materials and
Sustainability Research at The Coca-Cola Company
comments, “By advancing smart technology, we believe
performance and sustainability can go hand-in-hand to make
a world of difference for consumers, the environment and our
business. Avantium’s breakthrough technology continues to
offer a promising pathway for supporting both our efforts to
commercialize renewable, plant-based plastics and develop
unique properties for packaging to drive new growth. We
are pleased to further expand our existing partnership with
Avantium through this latest investment.”
Frederic Jouin, Director of Danone Nutricia Packaging
Center comments: “We participate in this venture as we
believe in the future of bio-based plastics for our packaging,
with a potential significant reduction in carbon footprint and
enhanced barrier properties compared to PET. With this
investment, we re-affirm our will to launch a 100% bio-based
bottle not in direct competition with food and 100% recyclable
and our wish to accelerate this launch on the market.”
Jan van der Eijk, Chairman of the Avantium Supervisory
Board, adds; “It is a remarkable milestone in the biobased
chemicals industry that large brand owners, such as The
Coca-Cola Company and Danone jointly invest for the
first time in a company like Avantium. Together with the
investment of Swire and Alpla, it is clear to us that the market
is willing to back winning technologies, such as PEF”.
www.avantium.com
bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9 23

Blow Moulding
100 million
PLA bottles
per year
Sant’Anna continuously
on the road to success.
As early as 2008 bioplastics MAGAZINE reported on the North
Italian mineral water company Fonti di Vinadio Spa, which
bottles and sells Sant’Anna di Vinadio mineral water. In
2007 the company introduced their water in Ingeo PLA bottles.
In those days producing about 650 million PET bottles per year,
in the meantime the Italian market leader has ramped up its PLA
bottle production to annually 100 million. “And still growing,” as
Luca Cheri, Commercial Director of Fonti di Vinadio explained in
an interview with bioplastics MAGAZINE.
Currently the so-called Bio Bottles of Fonti di Vinadio represent
about 2% of the Italian water bottle market. Most of it being sold
in Northwest and Northeast Italy. “About 12 million families
regularly buy Sant’Anna water in Bio Bottles,” Luca explains.
“There is a growing green movement in Italy, and so we are
also growing in sales. The people like the PLA bottle because
it is natural – not chemical”. And the customers are accepting
a slightly higher price for the environmentally-friendly bottle.
Instead of 0.50 € per 1.5 litre bottle, 0.55€ is accepted by the
consumers. The water company is closely cooperating with Coop
Italia, a retail chain with about 100 hypermarkets and more than
1000 supermarkets in Italy.
But Fonti di Vinadio is also interested in geographic expansion.
“When we look at other countries where the Sant’Anna value
proposition would fit, of course we do that holistically” noted
Cheri. “This means that we proactively assess all parts of the
value chain, including understanding how new materials fit any
existing post-consumer infrastructure, national or local policies,
and compliance schemes. It must all be consistent with what we
stand for as a Brand.”
For the end-of-life Sant’Anna has performed recycling tests
with Galactica, showing that PLA bottles can be recycled to PLA
bottles. However, recycling is not really happening yet. Instead,
the consumers are encouraged to dispose the PLA bottles in
the biowaste bins. Their website says: “For further information,
contact your local waste collection office.” And Luca confirms
that the local authorities accept PLA bottles in the biowaste
collection. While the labels of the bottles as well as the shrink
films for 6-packs (at least for the 1.5 litre size) are also made of
PLA, the caps have to be disposed of in the normal plastic waste.
However, a biobased and compostable solution for the caps is
being investigated.
So, even if other PLA bottles – most of them in the 0.5 litre
range or smaller – have disappeared from the market, Sant’Anna
(by the way the only company worldwide offering a 1.5 litre PLA
bottle), is seeing continuous success with further expansion
plans. MT
www.santanna.it
In addition to the environmental advantages already mentioned, PLA
offers some more (mainly energy related) benefits for bottle producers:
PET PLA Advantage
Granulate drying 6 hours ά 185 °C 6 hours ά 80 °C 60% less energy
Preform cooling water temperature 8°C 25°C 70% less energy
Preform heating oven 107- 110°C 80°C 30% less energy
Blowing process
11 bar (preblow)
32 bar final blow
6 bar (preblow)
23 bar (final blow)
-----
Application of label (temperature of glue tank) 145°C 135°C 7.5%
Shrink film tunnel 210°C 190°C 10%
24 bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9

Blow Moulding
Blow moulded air ducts
made from bio-PA
The plastics used in the automotive industry are primarily
based on petroleum. In its search for alternatives,
Stuttgart/Germany based MAHLE GmbH tested various
biobased plastics and ultimately validated one material as
ready for series production. This new bioplastic is first being
used for air duct products.
Large quantities of various types of plastic are found in
vehicles. Due to the limited availability and rising prices
of petroleum-based plastics, it seems reasonable to
investigate alternatives and develop them to readiness for
series production. These alternatives should protect the
environment and not represent an encroachment on the
food chain, i.e., they should not be based on starch as a
raw material, for example. Biobased plastics must also be
available in sufficient quantity.
As part of a predevelopment project, Mahle, in conjunction
with DuPont Performance Polymers, has investigated a
biobased blow mould material (presumably a Zytel RS
polyamide) for pipes for unfiltered air as well as clean air, and
validated it as ready for series production. Furthermore, a
comparison with conventional petroleum-based blow mould
plastics was performed. Regardless of the material selection,
the requirements for air ducts, such as unfiltered and clean
air guides, continue to rise. The trend toward a modular
system approach demands more flexible and lightweight
components that can be employed even under very tight
installation space conditions. Another challenge consists
in the low-cost, effective production of what are often very
complex shapes. The increasingly difficult installation and
removal conditions for service purposes are central aspects
in the development of current air duct products.
In an effort to validate the properties of the new biobased
blow mould material, first prototypes were initially produced
without modifications to the sample and series production
mould. In comparison with a conventional, petroleum-based
material, the biobased plastic is convincing, with improved
machinability and excellent flow properties. Better surface
quality means less air turbulence within the air duct system.
Extensive validation work in accordance with typical OEM
specifications demonstrates better flexibility of the blow
mould parts due to greater motility of folds. The greater
component flexibility not only allows more freedom in shape
design, but also provides advantages in the installation
and removal of air duct products at the customer and in
maintenance service. After simulated aging, the components
were tested for rigidity, elongation at fracture, deflection,
and pull-off forces. All recorded values are at least as good
as the comparable values from the conventional material
that was evaluated in parallel. Flawless functionality is thus
established in prototypes. Another positive aspect is the
achieved weight reduction, which can amount up to 25%,
depending on the component size. MT
www.mahle.com
force [N]
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
motility of folds
Conventional plastic
Bioplastic
Conventional plastic
after ageing
Bioplastic
after ageing
force [Mpa]
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
tenacity
Conventional plastic 130 °C
Bioplastic 130 °C
Conventional plastic 150 °C
Bioplastic 150 °C
Conventional plastic160 °C
Bioplastic 160 °C
0 5 10 15 20 25
displacement [mm]
0 200 400 600 800 1000
ageing [h]
bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9 25

Basics
First PLA bottles (2006-2007)
Info
Videoclip
http://bit.ly/1rDzvh5 (Source: KHS Corpoplast)
Stretch
blow moulding
Since the market introduction of the Coca-Cola PET bottles
in the early 1990s bottles made from polyethylene
terephthalate (PET) have seen a tremendous market
growth for beverages and other liquids such as detergents,
edible oils etc. More recently biobased and biodegradable
PLA was introduced for such applications, and biobased PEF
(polyethylene furanoate) was declared to be the bottle material
of the future.
The preferred manufacturing process for all these
materials is stretch blow moulding. Even if a number of
different process variants are existing, this short introduction
shall focus on the so called two-stage (or two-step) stretch
blow moulding (or reheat stretch blow moulding).
In the first step or stage, so-called preforms are produced
using the injection moulding process [1]. The preforms look
like thick-walled test-tubes and already feature the final
neck finish of the bottle including thread and neck ring.
The preforms are cooled and usually packed in boxes for
transport to the stretch blow moulding machine. Injection
moulding systems are available today with usually 32, 48, 72,
96 and 144 cavities [2].
In the separate blow moulding machine the preforms are
first reheated in a special UV oven to above glass transition
temperature. Then each reheated preform is transferred
into a blow mould where it is expanded with air pressure.
In order to receive containers with excellent properties the
heated preform is stretched to the bottom of the cavity prior
to inflation by a long, thin so-called stretch rod. When the
preform is at forming temperature it is fixed in the neck
region by the neck ring, the stretch rod pushes against the
bottom of the preform, while air is introduced to keep the soft
plastic from sticking to the rod. When the stretch rod pins the
preform (or parison) to the bottom of the mould, sufficient
air is introduced to blow the preform against the mould
wall, where it is held until cooled [3]. This process leads to
a biaxially stretched wall of the container, giving it excellent
mechanical and barrier properties.
Most of the stretch blow moulding machines are rotary
machines, i.e. a large number of mould cavities are
mounted to a horizontal wheel. While this wheel is turning,
26 bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9

Basics
air cooler
reflector
radiator
reflector
cold preforms
stretch blow mould
Principle of reheat stretch
blow moulding [2]
Injection moulding of performs. Note the preform
neck-ring designed to hold the preform firmly in
the blowing machine [2]
the preheated preforms go into the moulds and
finished bottles exit the moulds in a fast and
continuous process. Machines with 4-32 moulds
and an hourly output of 9,000 to 81,000 bottles are
standard today [4].
Existing stretch blow moulding machines can
be used to process PET, but also PLA and PEF.
Only the process parameters are different, in the
case of PLA in most cases even advantageous
compared to PET (cf. table on page 24.
[1] N.N.: Making preforms for PLA bottles;
bioplastics MAGAZINE vol.1 (2006), Issue 02, pp 16.
[2] Thielen, M.; Hartwig, K.; Gust, P.: Blasformen von
Kunststoff Hohlkörpern, Hanser Publishers, Munich 2006
[3] Beal, G.; Throne, J.: Hollow Plastic Parts, Hanser
Publishers,
Munich 2004
[4] N.N.: Innopet Blomax Serie IV, brochure of KHS
Corpoplast,
Hamburg, Germany, assessed online 21 July 2014
C
M
magnetic_148,5x105.ai 175.00 lpi 15.00° 75.00° 0.00° 45.00° 14.03.2009 10:13:31
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• International Trade
in Raw Materials,
Machinery & Products
Free of Charge
• Daily News
from the Industrial Sector
and the Plastics Markets
By
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• Current Market Prices
for Plastics.
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and Services.
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Up-to-date • Fast • Professional
Preforms [1]
bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9 27

Application News
PLA Capsules for
California Wine
Green Solutions for
green People
”Those of us who enjoy the natural world and are active
in the outdoors are becoming increasingly aware of the
deteriorating condition of our planet. This concern is
growing and there is a desire to show the, sometimes
conservative outdoor industry, that it is quite easy to
replace oil- based plastic products.”
This is what Bjarne Högström, founder of GREENCOVER
and the representative for FKuR in Scandinavia, states
while sipping his coffee from the mug he has developed.
With FKuR’s range of products nothing is impossible.
Bjarne looked initially for a biodegradable product, and
made the mug using Cellulose Acetate. However, the
cost, stability and aesthetic touch were crucial in the
choice of Terralene WF.
The Greencover mug is made from a fully biobased raw
material. Based on Braskems Green PE, which is derived
from sugar cane, the Terralene WF grades are a unique
range of compounds which have a higher modulus, dish
washer resistance and food contact approval.
In addition the material could be considered as being
one of the greenest available as the renewable content
exceeds 96 %. There are three grades of Terralene WF
available; these contain an increasing amount of wood
fibre.
In this case Terralene WF 3516 has been used to
produce the mug. With a modulus of approx. 1300 MPA it
is more stable than mass-produced simple products but
does not increase the cost significantly.
Another clear benefit is that existing moulds can be
used with this material. Leve AB in Stockholm produces
the bowl, which is sold by Greencover AB.
“We have had good field results. Schools and other
similar organisations have used it for a long time and it’s
a good way for teachers to start introducing the next of
generation plastics to the next generation of students”
finalizes Mr Högström.
www.polymerfront.se
www.greencover.se
In honor of Earth Day (April 22) and Arbor
Day (April 26), Trinity Oaks (St. Helena,
California, USA) announced in mid April that
it has begun bottling its wines with new plantbased
capsules made from EarthFirst ® PLA
film. Some of the key benefits, in addition
to the biobased raw material, include less
energy used and made in a greenhouse
neutral facility utilizing solar, wind, and
other energy offsets. The EarthFirst
PLA film material used in the capsule
is certified compostable, and the
aluminum top disk on the bottle is
recyclable.
“This is just one of the ways that
Trinity Oaks continues to support our
role as stewards of the land. As an
agriculturally-based company, we
are dedicated to protecting the earth
and its natural resources,” noted
Bob Torkelson, President and COO,
Trinchero Family Estates, the Napa
Valley based wine company which
produces Trinity Oaks wines. “Both
Earth Day and Arbor Day celebrate
the environment and encourage
people to plant and care for trees,
which we thought was a fitting time to
commemorate our commitment.”
The technology was developed in
partnership with Plastic Suppliers,
Inc. and Maverick Enterprises. Steve
Otterbeck, President of Maverick Enterprises, added, “At this
time, Trinity Oaks is the first and only wine capsule we have
made with this PLA technology, which shows how committed
they are to sustainable efforts.”
“PLA is an extraordinary plant-based capsule that allows for
us to create a unique, branded capsule for our customers while
being very environmentally friendly using a renewable resource.
We strive to be as sustainable as possible in all aspects of
our daily production and each and every department here at
Maverick. PLA is a new product we are happy to see Trinity
Oaks using for their continued efforts in their commitment to
sustainability.”
Trinity Oaks Wines are produced by Trinchero Family Estates,
and have helped plant over 10 million trees through the
One Bottle One Tree ® program. Trinity Oaks wines’ One Bottle
One Tree program funds the planting of a tree for every bottle
of Trinity Oaks wine sold in partnership with the non-profit
organization Trees for the Future to help restore tree cover and
plant trees in areas most in need of reforestation. MT
www.trinityoaks.com
www.plasticsuppliers.com
www.maverickcaps.com
28 bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9

Application
Biobased PE
for carton packaging
One successful example that reflects the commitment
to sustainability of Brazilian manufacturers is the partnership
between Braskem and Tetra Pak ® for using
the biobased polyethylene (green PE) in its carton packaging
manufactured in Brazil. Since 2011, Tetra Pak has used the
biobased polymer in its screw caps. The initiative has led Tetra
Pak to become the world’s first supplier of carton packaging
for liquid food to use the sugar cane based PE, branded as
I’m green.
In 2013, both companies announced an expansion in the
supply agreement for the renewable resin to include its use
in the protective layers of all carton packaging made in Brazil.
The substitution, which will be made this year, means that
some 13 billion packaging units will be manufactured with
up to 82% of the materials used derived from renewable
resources. To the company, the use of natural resources aims
to preserve the future in view of the global challenge posed by
the growing scarcity of fossil-based raw materials.
In February Coca-Cola Brazil became the first company
to use the new packages for its Del Valle juice beverages,
previously sold in regular cartons. Following that success, the
pilot is now being extended to include all 150 customers that
source from Tetra Pak Brazil.
The transformation, which is considered a milestone in
the food and beverage packaging industry, is also valued
for raising environmental awareness among consumers.
“Working jointly with Tetra Pak, we meet the needs of both
the packaging industry and consumers, who are ever more
connected and aware of these issues,” said Alexandre Elias,
director of Renewable Chemicals at Braskem.
“We are particularly proud to be the first in the industry to
use bio-based LDPE in carton packages”, said Charles Brand,
Vice President Marketing & Product Management at Tetra
Pak. “We believe that the best way to protect the sustainable
future of the packaging industry and meet the global challenge
of a growing scarcity of fossil-fuel based raw materials is to
further increase the use of renewable resources. We have set
an ambition to develop a 100% renewable package, building
from an average of 70% today. This launch is an important
step in that direction.”
I’m green polyethylene has the same characteristics
as traditional polyethylene, such as being inert, resistant
and recyclable, with the added advantage of being made
from renewable materials, which helps reduce the level of
greenhouse gases by absorbing CO 2
from the air during the
sugarcane’s growth phase. MT
www.braskem.com.br
www.tetrapak.com
Inside
package
Outside
package
Polyethylene
Polyethylene
Aluminium
Bio-based polyethylene
Paperboard
Bio-based polyethylene
bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9 29

Politics
Material use first!
Proposals for a Reform of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED)
to a Renewable Energy and Materials Directive (REMD)
The Renewable Energy Directive (RED) of the European
Union supports the energy use (bio-fuels, wood-pellets
etc) of biomass. But according to the authors, the incentive
scheme should also integrate biobased materials
and chemicals.
nova-paper #4, which can be downloaded in full free of
charge is titled: “Proposals for a Reform of the Renewable
Energy Directive to a Renewable Energy and Materials
Directive (REMD)”. It aims at creating a level playing field
for biobased chemicals and materials with bioenergy and
biofuels in Europe. It is fundamentally different from other
reforms of the Directive being currently discussed because it
opens the perspective to not only look at energy, but also at
biobased materials.
The proposal is based on the insights that the support
system for bioenergy and biofuels created by the RED
and the corresponding national legislations is one of the
main reasons hindering the biobased material sector from
developing – and therefore the whole biobased economy.
It is time to understand that the RED stems from a time
when biomass was available in abundance and it made sense
to create the framework, but that today biomass is a highly
valuable raw material that should be allocated in the most
efficient way possible. At the moment, the legislation causes
serious market distortions for biobased feedstocks that have
been reported by a multitude of companies. Unfavourable
framework conditions combined with high biomass prices
and uncertain biomass supplies deter investors from putting
money into biobased chemistry and materials 1 .
Furthermore, several problems with the current framework
have been become apparent over the last few years, as for
example the fact that some Member States are not on track
with meeting their quotas or that feedstock bottlenecks have
appeared due to the increased and unbalanced demand for
biomass.
This reform proposal aims to offer solutions to all these
issues, while improving the generation of value added,
employment, innovation and investment in Europe. All of
these criteria can be better fulfilled by industrial material use
than by energy use (of the same amount of biomass).
The strengthening of the biobased material sector will
contribute to the desired industrial renaissance recently
communicated by the European Commission, while still
reducing greenhouse gas emissions and contributing to
a strong climate policy of the EU. Furthermore, it aims at
lessening the dependence on public subsidies while still
using, preserving and expanding the existing structures in
place for bioenergy and biofuels.
The revolutionary proposal calls for an opening of the
support system to also make biobased chemicals and
materials accountable for the renewables quota of each
Member State. The basic idea is to transform the RED into a
REMD – a “Renewable Energy and Materials Directive”.
It does not intend to establish a new quota for the chemical
industry. Instead, it proposes that the material use of a
biobased building block such as bioethanol or biomethane
should be accounted for in the renewables quota the same
way as it counts for the energy use of the same building
block, e.g. fuel.
The competition triangle: No level playing field for bio-based chemicals and products
Petrochemical
Industry
90 %
Energy Tax
Fuels, Electricity
and Heat
Artificial
competitiveness
Bioenergy
Biofuels
Fig 1: The competition triangle:
Petrochemicals – Bioenergy/
biofuels – Material use of
biomass (Carus et al. 2014)
10 %
No Energy Tax,
no import duties
Energy Shift
(with Solar and Wind)
Easy, subsidised
access to biomass
48 %
Integration into
Emissions
Trading System
Comprehensive support system
at EU and national levels
National Implementations ,
Biofuel Quota Act,
Tax reductions
Raw Material Shift
3. Industral Revolution
Products
Low competitiveness
to petrochemical productes
Biomass
52 %
(D 2008)
Difficult access to domestic
biomass, barriers in trading,
import taxes
Renewable Energy
Directive (RED)
Uncertainty on sustainable feedstock
supply, R&D, biotech processes,
performance, competitiveness, markets
and political framework are the main
hurdles for investment in Europe.
Industrial Material
Use of Biomass
Complete lack of a support system for
the material use – support only for R&D,
sporadic and limited to certain applications.
Difficult situation on the market, with
laws and regulations as well as in
politics and publics.
Advantages and benefits for
Bioenergy/Biofuels leading to
hurdles for other sectors
Hurdles and barriers for
Industrial Material Use
30 bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9

Politics
10
9
8
The factors state how much more gross employment
and added value is created per unit of land (or tonne of
biomass) by material use than energy use
Solar powered electric car
Photovoltaic
Solar Electricity
0%:
3,600 GJ per ha and year
Inverter (DV AC)
5%,
Grid losses: 6%
Reaching the battery:
3,215 GJ
per ha and year
Battery electric
motor to the wheel:
0%
6.3% of original energy
2,250 GJ per ha and year
2,250 GJ
7
6
5
4
In Central Europe, the
average solar radiation
per hectare about
36,000 Gigajoule (GJ)
per ha and year
to the wheel
The photovoltaic panel and electric
car system is 50 times (BTL) to 125
times
compared to the system of energy
crops for a biofuel driven car.
3
2
1
Direct gross
employment
factor
Direct gross
added value
factor
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Seven Studies
Photosynthesis
about 2% of 20,000 GJ
(radiation share in growing
period) per ha:
400 GJ per ha
and year
Biofuels (Biodiesel, Bioethanol, BTL)
Mechanical &
chemical processing
Biofuels
50 - 135 GJ
per ha and year
Distribution and combustion engine
(fuel wheel):
5%
0.1-0.2% of original energy
18 - 47 GJ
per ha and year
18 - 47 GJ
Fig 2: Comparison of gross macroeconomic effects of material
and energy use of biomass (Carus et al. 2014)
Notes: Shares of food an feed based on FAOSTAT; gap of animal feed
demand from grazing not included (see Krausmann et al. 2008)
Other building blocks, such as succinic acid, lactic acid, etc.
could be accounted for based on a conversion into bio-ethanol
equivalents according to their calorific value. Reduction of
greenhouse gas emissions could also be the basis for such a
conversion.
Six more evolutionary proposals complement this comprehensive
idea of a REMD. They focus especially on resource efficiency by
restricting bioenergy’s share of the RED quotas, strengthening solar
and wind power within the European renewables framework and
by including more CO 2
-based fuels in the quota. It is proposed to
abolish multiple counting within the quota, except for raw materials
stemming from cascading or recycling processes. Furthermore,
in the future representatives of the material sector should also be
heard for any reform concerning energy won from biomass.
Finally, the reform paper addresses the current debate about
sustainability certifications for biomass used for any purpose. It
points out that sustainability certifications for the energy sector
were only implemented hand in hand with considerable incentives.
This aspect is often forgotten in the discussion. The paper proposes
installing the same sustainability criteria for biomass used for
materials that are required for the use of energy, if the same
incentives are applied. In such a context, an expansion of today’s
sustainability schemes to cover more criteria would be welcome.
The paper is completed by two Annexes: One includes statements
of companies that feel the negative impacts of the distorted
market for biomass caused by the RED; and the other presents
comprehensive background information on all statements of the
main paper as well as the specifics of industrial material use. MT
Info:
The complete paper (pdf) can be
downloaded free of charge at
www.bio-based.eu/nova-papers
By:
Michael Carus, Lara Dammer,
Roland Essel all: nova-Institut,
Hürth, Germany
Andreas Hermann
Öko-Institut; Freiburg, Germany
www.nova-institute.eu
1:“Whereas world capacity for biobased chemicals and materials is rapidly growing,
Europe clearly lags behind. Lux Research, a Boston based company, expects a doubling
of global biobased capacity in 2017 to 13.2 Mton. But Europe’s share will drop from 37%
in 2005 to 14% in 2017.” (www.biobasedpress.eu/2014/03/biobased-chemicals-europeanshare-drop-sharply)
Editor’s note
Michael Thielen
Two of many interesting aspects mentioned in
the proposal are (i) macroeconomic effects (gross
employment and added value) and (ii) energy
efficiency of photovoltaic vs. biofuels.
(i) In 2012, Fifo-Institute, Cologne (Germany)
and nova-Institute, Hürth (Germany) conducted
a comprehensive meta-analysis of seven major
studies on the economics of material use of biomass.
This meta-analytical study of the macroeconomic
effects focuses on the question: “How do we assess
the economics of material use compared to energy
use?” applying the same parameters of added value
and the effects on employment. Fig 2 shows the
recapitulation of the results. Overall, it is apparent
that material use promises several advantages over
energy use in terms of gross employment (Factors
5-10) and gross added value (Factors 4–9) – in both
cases related to the same area of land or amount
of biomass.
This is largely due to the considerably longer
process and value chains for material use – and
the higher value of the products. (ii) Fig 3. shows
the different grades of land efficiency for different
biofuel systems (biodiesel from rapeseed, bioethanol
from wheat or corn and BTL from lignocellulosic
feedstock) compared to the land efficiency of
powering an electric car with solar energy – from
the field to the wheel.
All assumptions are conservative and widely
accepted by experts. The different biofuel systems
need 50 to 125 times more land than a solar electric
car system, taking only the direct effects into
account (without the production of the PV system
and without energy input (tractor, fertilizer, plant
protection…) in the agricultural system). Especially
if land is rare, the decision for a land-efficient solar
electric mobility instead of far less efficient biofuels
will free large arable areas for the agricultural
production
bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9 31

Market
GreenPremium:
Who is willing
to pay more?
An introduction to nova paper #3
on bio-based economy 2014-05
Biobased plastics are usually more expensive than their
conventional counterparts, and companies face supply
chain challenges when they switch from one raw material
solution to another. Nevertheless, the biobased plastics
market continues to grow. GreenPremium plays an important
part in this.
In its paper “GreenPremium along the value chain of
biobased products” nova-Institute (Hürth, Germany) is,
for the first time, putting forward a clear definition of
GreenPremium:
The GreenPremium is basically understood as the
extra-price market actors are willing to pay for a product
just for the fact that it is green or, in our specific case,
biobased. In other words: an extra charge for the additional
emotional performance and/or strategic performance of the
intermediate or end product the buyer expects to get when
choosing the biobased alternative compared to the price
for the conventional counterpart with the same technical
performance.
The results of the surveys and analyses of 35 cases
of biobased chemicals and plastics clearly demonstrate
that GreenPremium prices do indeed exist and are paid
in the value chains of different biobased chemicals and
plastics – especially for new biobased value-added chains
and on the European market. In line with the definition of
GreenPremium, the motivation for paying additional prices
is the biobased product’s expected increased emotional and
strategic performance.
In the absence of any policy incentives, GreenPremium
prices are very important for the market introduction of
biobased products, and many new biobased plastics would
not even exist if there were no customers willing to pay
GreenPremium prices.
The range of reported GreenPremium prices in the various
branches and applications analyzed ranges from a 10%
to a 300% premium over the conventional petrochemical
product with the same technical performance. Most of the
GreenPremium prices found lie within a range of 10-20% for
biobased intermediates, polymers and compounds, followed
by the 20-40% range. Higher GreenPremium prices could
only be obtained in specific cases.
For the end consumer the range of GreenPremium prices
for biobased products goes from 0% (automotive, cosmetics,
bottle) to 25% (wall plug, toy) with, in the middle, a 10%
GreenPremium for organic food with biobased packaging.
Experiences show that consumers tend to pay
GreenPremium prices (and hence pass on the difference to
other actors in the supply chain) when the environmental or
social benefits are explained to them (Levine 2012*).
“The consumers are the driving force. Some consumers
already pay a premium for less polluting cars, for organic
food and for green plastics, and they are constantly growing
in number. ‘Being green’ is the premium, and the consumer
shall pay for it. Local regulation can be helpful, but it is
definitely the demand that makes the difference. And the
current trend is going green, worldwide.” (Prestileo 2012*).
32 bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9

Market
GreenPremium in percentage of the product price
Chemical
company
Polymer
producer
Compounder
Product
producer
Dictrbuter
End consumer
Value chain
Fig. 1: Analysis of
GreenPremium prices along
the value chain of different
bio-based chemicals,
plastics and end products.
Coloured lines represent
one value chain, single dots
represent single findings.
Regional differences
The data within the study is largely based on estimations
of the European market. It should also be mentioned that
the willingness to pay GreenPremium price is relatively high
in Europe, whereas in China it is relatively low and North
America somewhere in between (Ravenstijn 2012*).
An evaluation of the US market conducted by P&G largely
confirms this trend. “Roughly 80% of consumers are either
highly engaged with environmental sustainability (they will
accept some performance trade-offs for products with better
environmental footprints), or are ‘eco-aware’ but will not
accept trade-offs. The latter group (70%) are considered the
mainstream and are an important target group for biobased
products. The remaining 20% are indifferent; in the US, half of
this 20% self-classify as never greens (Meller 2009*). Similar
results have been revealed by the National Retail Federation,
showing that 70% would be willing to pay a premium of at
least 5% (NRF 2010*). Other analyses confirm more generally
that “consumers are willing to pay slightly more, but not huge
amounts more” (Cooper 2013*).
GreenPremium changes along the supply chain
Fig. 1 shows the results of all expert interviews and
surveys undertaken and analyzed in the context of this
study. nova-Institute’s surveys and analyses cover cases of
GreenPremium prices for 35 bio-based chemicals, polymers
and plastics (drop-in and new biopolymers), and compounds
– and additional background information from market
insiders for the GreenPremium prices. Expert interviews by
phone, skype, LinkedIn and face to face, as well as a literature
analyses, were conducted in late 2012 and 2013.
The figure shows the identified GreenPremium levels
depending on where they are paid in the value chain – for
example, the polymer producer buys a building block from
the chemical company and might pay a GreenPremium for it
or the end consumer buys the final product and might pay a
GreenPremium to the distributor.
Some identified GreenPremium prices are part of the same
value chain; they are shown by coloured lines. The empirical
data shows that for all lines the GreenPremium price levels (in
percentage terms) decreases along the supply chain towards
the end consumer, as well as the █brown and █green lines
after an intermediate peak. Relatively high GreenPremiums
are paid for (early) intermediate products, whereas the end
consumer pays a much lower GreenPremium or even no
extra price at all.
The reason for this is that intermediate products like
building-blocks, polymers or compounds only account for
a minor fraction of overall product costs, with the effect
that endproduct costs increase only slightly. The material
costs share (including the GreenPremium) of the total
product price decreases along the value chain. The highest
GreenPremium price (in percentage) is paid predominately
for the intermediates. And without this enhanced and
confirmed willingness to pay high GreenPremium prices for
intermediate products, many new bio-based value-chains
would not have been implemented at all.
The green line rises towards the middle of the supply chain,
which means that the highest GreenPremium levels are paid
by the distributor for the green packaging. This situation
can occur when a product is subject to very high emotional
performance that would allow producers and distributors
to pass on their extra costs to the end consumer. Biobased
packaging for organic food can serve as an example, with
a small fraction of packaging costs and high emotional
performance through green packaging making a perfect
fit with the consequent green image of the organic food
product. The distributor can pass his extra costs of the green
packaging (+100%) on to the end consumer, who only has to
pay 10% GreenPremium for the final organic food product.
(The high GreenPremium price for the green packaging can
be explained by a small production volume.)
bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9 33

Market
The unconnected dots represent other empirically proven
GreenPremium levels in the market, which could not be
allocated to specific supply chains. The distribution indicates
above-average GreenPremium levels for compounds and
polymers compared to chemicals or end products. Some of
the dots represent specific materials and are coloured (e.g.
PLA in blue), others represent more general findings and are
marked in grey (e.g. bio-based chemicals in general).
Some examples
Some companies pay more than double the conventional
price, for example for compounds based on PE made
from biomass. One reason for FKuR customers to pay this
premium is that the product fits their corporate identity,
since they pursue sustainability targets and pay attention to
their products’ carbon footprint (Michels 2012*).
The fischer company brought a green wall plug made from
57% bio-based polyamide to market in order to strengthen
their green company image. The biobased version, which is
20% more expensive than the conventional one, is mainly
aimed at environmentally minded do-it-yourselfers (Schätzle
2013*).
Talking about the end-consumer industry, Coca-Cola
is willing to pay up to 25% extra for bio-based PET to be
used in drinking bottles. This includes higher production
costs caused by retooling and transport (Stadler 2012*).
Based on increasing economies of scale, Coca-Cola expects
equal prices to petro-based PET by 2015 for the Brazilian
production chain, whereas the European way will require
further GreenPremium shares due to higher logistics
costs (Stadler 2012*). Generally, it is estimated that major
companies like Coca-Cola and Danone pay 15-20% and even
up to 25% more for Bio-PET or PLA used in packaging.
A producer of plastic toys pays a GreenPremium of nearly
100% for a 68% bio-based version that has similar technical
properties to ABS in order to take advantage of marketing
effects. The final toy product prices are 20-30% higher than
competing products (Grashorn 2012*).
Within the automotive sector, Toyota has covered 80% of
the interior surfaces of one of its hybrid cars with Bio-PETbased
plastic. The material, which is used in the seat trim,
floor carpets and other interior surfaces, is estimated to
raise raw material costs by 15% (Toyota 2011, Ravenstijn
2012*). One reason for this development is to meet internal
sustainability targets, e.g. concerning the product’s carbon
footprint (Carrez 2013*).
Ford, Toyota and Volkswagen are also interested in
purchasing bio-PP from Braskem in order to benefit from
marketing and supply chain effects. They are expected to
pay around 30% extra compared to the current petro-based
counterpart, at least for a limited period of time (Ravenstijn
2012*). MT
Info:
The complete paper (pdf) including
a complete *list of all references is
available free of charge at
www.biobased.eu/markets
COMPOSITES EUROPE
7.– 9. Okt. 2014 | Messe Düsseldorf
9. Europäische Fachmesse & Forum für
Verbundwerkstoffe, Technologie und Anwendungen
www.composites-europe.com
Organised by
Partners
34 bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9

Polylactic Acid
Uhde Inventa-Fischer has expanded its product portfolio to include the innovative stateof-the-art
PLAneo ® process. The feedstock for our PLA process is lactic acid, which can
be produced from local agricultural products containing starch or sugar.
The application range of PLA is similar to that of polymers based on fossil resources as
its physical properties can be tailored to meet packaging, textile and other requirements.
Think. Invest. Earn.
Uhde Inventa-Fischer GmbH
Holzhauser Strasse 157–159
13509 Berlin
Germany
Tel. +49 30 43 567 5
Fax +49 30 43 567 699
Uhde Inventa-Fischer AG
Via Innovativa 31
7013 Domat/Ems
Switzerland
Tel. +41 81 632 63 11
Fax +41 81 632 74 03
marketing@uhde-inventa-fi scher.com
www.uhde-inventa-fi scher.com
Uhde Inventa-Fischer

Report
Generation Zero
Bioplastics were the very beginning!
Pic. 1: Bonboniere cover
(Celluloid as eplacement for tortoiseshell)
Pic. 2: Candle holder
(casein as replacement for tortoiseshell)
Due to the strong and growing use of plastics, some historians
call the current time the plastics age. In 1983, with
125,000,000 m³ for the first time the global demand for
plastics exceeded that of iron. But, the history of plastics is older
than some historians and some people in the plastics business
might expect:
Modern man always looked for, and made use of, easily
processable materials to ease daily life. In the history of plastics,
according to Waentig, it can be distinguished between the
following phases:
• Origins (until1839),
• era of imitating materials (1839 to 1914),
• era of substitutes (from approx. 1914 to approx. 1950),
• era of materials with novel properties (from approx. 1950).
Some might have forgotten that the very first plastics
were based on biopolymers. Already in the stone age, natural
resins (biopolymers) were used as glue and in the middle ages
manufactured products from the biopolymer milk protein (casein)
were used for imitation of horn for inlays or little medallions.
A recipe for making imitation horn is almost 500 years old,
making it the oldest known text on creating a plastic. In around
1530 the Swiss merchant Bartholomaeus Schobinger met with
the Bavarian Benedictine monk Wolfgang Seidel at the wealthy
Fugger family´s residence. There, Seidel, a passionate collector
and publisher of scientific texts, heard about an alchemist´s
recipe that he later published in his writings under the title “The
secret to creating a transparent material akin to beautiful horn”
(see box next page).
Social structures changed rapidly in the 18 th century.
Urbanization took place, the bourgeoisie became wider and
wealthier and required a higher level of scarce and expensive
horn, nacre, tortoise shell and ivory for designed fashionable
articles for daily use (see pictures). The demand for these natural
materials – which, by the way, are all based on biopolymers –
exceeded supply and opened the market for substitutes.
Bois Durci, the hardened wood, was used mainly in France
between 1855 and 1927 for the production of picture frames,
write garnish, album covers, badges and other luxurious
objects (picture 9). Bois Durci is a dark material, made from
the biopolymer protein and many different filling materials. This
moulding compound consisted of waste products: bovine blood
from the many slaughterhouses around Paris, the megacity at
that time, as well as sawdust from tropical wood from furniture
production.
At about the same time, at the end of the 19 th century,
Milk Stone a resin based on casein was invented. Famous
trademarks were Galalith and Erinoid (see box p. 38, top). It
needed some effort to be produced and was more expensive
than the later Celluloid, but it kept a certain market for a while
because it was odorless and flammable.
Pic. 3: Buttons (casein as replacement for nacre)
36 bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9

Report
In the second half of the 19 th century the game of billiards became
very popular in the USA and the demand for ivory for billiard balls
threatened Ceylonese (today Sri Lanka) elephants with extinction.
In 1869, thermoplastic celluloid was developed by J.W. Hyatt as a
replacement material for the scarce and expensive ivory. At that
time he certainly was not aware that he had introduced the first ever
synthetically produced bioplastic. Celluloid is composed of a mixture
of about 70 to 75 % by weight of cellulose di-nitrate and 25 to 30 % by
weight of camphor. Over the years it has been displaced by mixtures
of cellulose acetate (see extra frame) which are less combustible.
Today, many other biopolymers and bioplastics are on the market,
but there is still room for some bioplastics which started from the
very beginning: Cellulose Acetate (CA) is marketed e.g as Biograde ®
from FKuR, one of the most well-known applications of cellulose
aceto butyrate (CAB) is the moulded handle on the Swiss army knife.
A rather young, new casein-based polymer is marketed by Qmilk (cf.
bM 05/2013).
Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Christian Bonten is member of the Presidium
of the Deutsches Kunststoffmuseum (German Plastics Museum) in
Düsseldorf, Germany and Director of the Institut für Kunststofftechnik
(IKT) in Stuttgart/Germany.
Pic. 4: Clasp
(celluloid as replacement for nacre)
www.deutsches-kunststoff-museum.de
“The secret to creating a
transparent material that feels
and looks like beautiful horn”
(Original text in German, “ein durchsichtige materi (...)
gleich wie schons horn”)
“Take goat´s cheese or another low-fat cheese and leave it
to simmer for a whole day. Then let it cool until a thick pastelike
deposit forms. The white milky liquid floating above must
be skimmed off. Pour fresh hot water over what remains,
leave it to simmer again and stir so that the water separates
from the paste. Repeat the process until the white substance
no longer forms. What remains at the bottom of the pot is a
substance that is viscous and transparent like horn and looks
like curd cheese.” Father Seidel then picks up the thread:
“Place the cleaned material in a well heated soapy solution
and then press it into a mould. The filled mould has to be
plunged into cold water, where it becomes as hard as bone
and beautifully transparent.” And there you have “the ideal
material for craftsmen.” Father Seidel adds: “If the process
has been performed correctly, table tops, dinnerware and
medallions can be cast from the material”. He continues: “But
remember, the material must be moulded while still hot. Even
when already moulded, it can still be shaped without being
damaged. As soon as it has cooled down, however, bending or
twisting will cause it to shatter like glass.”
Pic. 5: Cigarette holder
(casein as replacement for horn)
Pic. 6: Belt buckle and buttons
(Celluloid as replacement for horn)
bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9 37

Report
Biopolymers and bioplastics
from milk proteins
Raw material for the necessary casein is cow’s milk, which
has a casein content of 2 to 3 % per weight. One litre of cow’s
milk contains about 40 g of butterfat, 36 g of casein and
50 g of lactose. So up to 30 litres of milk are necessary for
producing 1 kg of casein, which is a quite inefficient ratio.
Pic. 7: Toiletry articles
(Metal, glass and Celluloid
as replacement for ivory)
A kind of an artificial horn, marketed with the brand names
Galalith or Erinoid, was made from dried casein in a quite
lengthy and costly manner. The production of hard artificial
horn required milk properly degreased by centrifuging and
precipitated with rennet instead of acid. For hardening, the
plates and rods needed to be brought into a 5 % aqueous bath
of formaldehyde. The hardening took weeks and months,
which made the process so expensive. Later, the hardening
was cut by two thirds and later down to 20 % by means of
potassium thiocyanate.
Pic. 8: Billiard balls (Celluloid as replacement for ivory)
Biopolymers und
bioplastics from cellulose
(cell walls from plants)
In the 19 th century, cellulose became an important raw
material for plastics. Since the bronze age, cellulose from
papyrus, wood and cotton was used as paper, as well as in
the form of fibres and textiles. Cellulose can be found as a
structural component in all plants – including many plants
that are not useful as food. Hence cellulose is the most
frequently encountered carbohydrate on earth. Vegetable
fibres such as cotton, jute, flax and hemp are cellulose in a
nearly pure form.
By means of drawing into fibres and forming, it is possible
to convert cellulose into paper (pulp). The cellulose used here
is obtained from wood or straw. By hydrolysis of cellulose,
glucose is obtained, which can then be converted into
different chemicals such as acetone, alkanols, carboxylic
acids, and also ethanol, by means of fermentation. This bioethanol
can deliver ethylene and butadiene for the production
of bioplastics. However, the method involves many different
steps and is not always efficient.
Pic. 9: Picture Frame
(Bois Durci as replacement for e.g. Ebony)
All pictures by courtesy of Deutsches
Kunststoffmuseum, Düsseldorf, Germany.
By
Christian Bonten
Deutsches Kunststoffmuseum
Düsseldorf, Germany
A simpler method is to produce derivatives from cellulose
which can be converted more directly into bioplastics. The
esterification to a cellulose ester with the aid of derivatives
of organic acids (e. g. acid anhydride) represents a typical
method. The characteristics of these cellulose esters can
be strongly influenced by additives, e.g. plasticizers. The
common cellulose esters CA (cellulose actetate), CAB
(cellulose acetate butyrate) and CP (cellulose propionate) can
be converted using all known plastics converting processes.
38 bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9

Basics
Bioplastics (as defined by European Bioplastics
e.V.) is a term used to define two different
kinds of plastics:
a. Plastics based on → renewable resources
(the focus is the origin of the raw material
used). These can be biodegradable or not.
b. → Biodegradable and → compostable
plastics according to EN13432 or similar
standards (the focus is the compostability of
the final product; biodegradable and compostable
plastics can be based on renewable
(biobased) and/or non-renewable (fossil) resources).
Bioplastics may be
- based on renewable resources and biodegradable;
- based on renewable resources but not be
biodegradable; and
- based on fossil resources and biodegradable.
Glossary 3.2 last update issue 02/2013
In bioplastics MAGAZINE again and again
the same expressions appear that some of our readers
might not (yet) be familiar with. This glossary shall help
with these terms and shall help avoid repeated explanations
such as ‘PLA (Polylactide)‘ in various articles.
Since this Glossary will not be printed
in each issue you can download a pdf version
from our website (bit.ly/OunBB0)
bioplastics MAGAZINE is grateful to European Bioplastics for the permission to use parts of their Glossary (see [1])
Readers who would like to suggest better or other explanations to be added to the list, please contact the editor.
[*: bM ... refers to more comprehensive article previously published in bioplastics MAGAZINE)
Aerobic - anaerobic | aerobic = in the presence
of oxygen (e.g. in composting) | anaerobic
= without oxygen being present (e.g. in
biogasification, anaerobic digestion)
[bM 06/09]
Anaerobic digestion | conversion of organic
waste into bio-gas. Other than in → composting
in anaerobic degradation there is no oxygen
present. In bio-gas plants for example,
this type of degradation leads to the production
of methane that can be captured in a controlled
way and used for energy generation.
[14] [bM 06/09]
Amorphous | non-crystalline, glassy with unordered
lattice
Amylopectin | Polymeric branched starch
molecule with very high molecular weight
(biopolymer, monomer is → Glucose) [bM 05/09]
Amylose | Polymeric non-branched starch
molecule with high molecular weight (biopolymer,
monomer is → Glucose) [bM 05/09]
Biobased plastic/polymer | A plastic/polymer
in which constitutional units are totally or in
part from → biomass [3]. If this claim is used,
a percentage should always be given to which
extent the product/material is → biobased [1]
[bM 01/07, bM 03/10]
Biobased | The term biobased describes the
part of a material or product that is stemming
from → biomass. When making a biobasedclaim,
the unit (→ biobased carbon content,
→ biobased mass content), a percentage and
the measuring method should be clearly stated [1]
Biobased carbon | carbon contained in or
stemming from → biomass. A material or
product made of fossil and → renewable resources
contains fossil and → biobased carbon.
The 14 C method [4, 5] measures the amount
of biobased carbon in the material or product
as fraction weight (mass) or percent weight
(mass) of the total organic carbon content [1] [6]
Biobased mass content | describes the
amount of biobased mass contained in a material
or product. This method is complementary
to the 14 C method, and furthermore, takes
other chemical elements besides the biobased
carbon into account, such as oxygen, nitrogen
and hydrogen. A measuring method is currently
being developed and tested by the Association
Chimie du Végétal (ACDV) [1]
Biodegradable Plastics | Biodegradable Plastics
are plastics that are completely assimilated
by the → microorganisms present a defined
environment as food for their energy. The
carbon of the plastic must completely be converted
into CO 2
during the microbial process.
The process of biodegradation depends on
the environmental conditions, which influence
it (e.g. location, temperature, humidity) and
on the material or application itself. Consequently,
the process and its outcome can vary
considerably. Biodegradability is linked to the
structure of the polymer chain; it does not depend
on the origin of the raw materials.
There is currently no single, overarching standard
to back up claims about biodegradability.
One standard for example is ISO or in Europe:
EN 14995 Plastics- Evaluation of compostability
- Test scheme and specifications
[bM 02/06, bM 01/07]
Biomass | Material of biological origin excluding
material embedded in geological formations
and material transformed to fossilised
material. This includes organic material, e.g.
trees, crops, grasses, tree litter, algae and
waste of biological origin, e.g. manure [1, 2]
Biorefinery | the co-production of a spectrum
of bio-based products (food, feed, materials,
chemicals including monomers or building
blocks for bioplastics) and energy (fuels, power,
heat) from biomass.[bM 02/13]
Blend | Mixture of plastics, polymer alloy of at
least two microscopically dispersed and molecularly
distributed base polymers
Bisphenol-A (BPA) | Monomer used to produce
different polymers. BPA is said to cause
health problems, due to the fact that is behaves
like a hormone. Therefore it is banned
for use in children’s products in many countries.
BPI | Biodegradable Products Institute, a notfor-profit
association. Through their innovative
compostable label program, BPI educates
manufacturers, legislators and consumers
about the importance of scientifically based
standards for compostable materials which
biodegrade in large composting facilities.
Carbon footprint | (CFPs resp. PCFs – Product
Carbon Footprint): Sum of → greenhouse
gas emissions and removals in a product system,
expressed as CO 2
equivalent, and based
on a → life cycle assessment. The CO 2
equivalent
of a specific amount of a greenhouse gas
is calculated as the mass of a given greenhouse
gas multiplied by its → global warmingpotential
[1, 2]
Carbon neutral, CO 2
neutral | Carbon neutral
describes a product or process that has
a negligible impact on total atmospheric CO 2
levels. For example, carbon neutrality means
that any CO 2
released when a plant decomposes
or is burnt is offset by an equal amount
of CO 2
absorbed by the plant through photosynthesis
when it is growing.
Carbon neutrality can also be achieved
through buying sufficient carbon credits to
make up the difference. The latter option is
not allowed when communicating → LCAs
or carbon footprints regarding a material or
product [1, 2].
Carbon-neutral claims are tricky as products
will not in most cases reach carbon neutrality
if their complete life cycle is taken into consideration
(including the end-of life).
If an assessment of a material, however, is
conducted (cradle to gate), carbon neutrality
might be a valid claim in a B2B context. In this
case, the unit assessed in the complete life
cycle has to be clarified [1]
Catalyst | substance that enables and accelerates
a chemical reaction
Cellophane | Clear film on the basis of → cellulose
[bM 01/10]
Cellulose | Cellulose is the principal component
of cell walls in all higher forms of plant
life, at varying percentages. It is therefore the
most common organic compound and also
the most common polysaccharide (multisugar)
[11]. C. is a polymeric molecule with
very high molecular weight (monomer is →
Glucose), industrial production from wood or
cotton, to manufacture paper, plastics and fibres
[bM 01/10]
Cellulose ester| Cellulose esters occur by the
esterification of cellulose with organic acids.
The most important cellulose esters from a
technical point of view are cellulose acetate
bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9 39

Basics
(CA with acetic acid), cellulose propionate (CP
with propionic acid) and cellulose butyrate
(CB with butanoic acid). Mixed polymerisates,
such as cellulose acetate propionate
(CAP) can also be formed. One of the most
well-known applications of cellulose aceto
butyrate (CAB) is the moulded handle on the
Swiss army knife [11]
Cellulose acetate CA| → Cellulose ester
CEN | Comité Européen de Normalisation
(European organisation for standardization)
Compost | A soil conditioning material of decomposing
organic matter which provides nutrients
and enhances soil structure.
[bM 06/08, 02/09]
Compostable Plastics | Plastics that are
→ biodegradable under ‘composting’ conditions:
specified humidity, temperature,
→ microorganisms and timefame. In order
to make accurate and specific claims about
compostability, the location (home, → industrial)
and timeframe need to be specified [1].
Several national and international standards
exist for clearer definitions, for example EN
14995 Plastics - Evaluation of compostability -
Test scheme and specifications. [bM 02/06, bM 01/07]
Composting | A solid waste management
technique that uses natural process to convert
organic materials to CO 2
, water and humus
through the action of → microorganisms.
When talking about composting of bioplastics,
usually → industrial composting in a managed
composting plant is meant [bM 03/07]
Compound | plastic mixture from different
raw materials (polymer and additives) [bM 04/10)
Copolymer | Plastic composed of different
monomers.
Cradle-to-Gate | Describes the system
boundaries of an environmental →Life Cycle
Assessment (LCA) which covers all activities
from the ‘cradle’ (i.e., the extraction of raw
materials, agricultural activities and forestry)
up to the factory gate
Cradle-to-Cradle | (sometimes abbreviated
as C2C): Is an expression which communicates
the concept of a closed-cycle economy,
in which waste is used as raw material
(‘waste equals food’). Cradle-to-Cradle is not
a term that is typically used in →LCA studies.
Cradle-to-Grave | Describes the system
boundaries of a full →Life Cycle Assessment
from manufacture (‘cradle’) to use phase and
disposal phase (‘grave’).
Crystalline | Plastic with regularly arranged
molecules in a lattice structure
Density | Quotient from mass and volume of
a material, also referred to as specific weight
DIN | Deutsches Institut für Normung (German
organisation for standardization)
DIN-CERTCO | independant certifying organisation
for the assessment on the conformity
of bioplastics
Dispersing | fine distribution of non-miscible
liquids into a homogeneous, stable mixture
Drop-In Bioplastics | chemically indentical
to conventional petroleum based plastics,
but made from renewable resources. Examples
are bio-PE made from bio-ethanol (from
e.g. sugar cane) or partly biobased PET (the
monoethylene glykol made from bio-ethanol
(from e.g. sugar cane, a development to make
terephthalic acid from renewable resources
are under way). Other examples are polyamides
(partly biobased e.g. PA 4.10 or PA 10.10
or fully biobased like PA 5.10 or 10.10)
Elastomers | rigid, but under force flexible
and elastically formable plastics with rubbery
properties
EN 13432 | European standard for the assessment
of the → compostability of plastic
packaging products
Energy recovery | recovery and exploitation
of the energy potential in (plastic) waste for
the production of electricity or heat in waste
incineration pants (waste-to-energy)
Enzymes | proteins that catalyze chemical
reactions
Ethylen | colour- and odourless gas, made
e.g. from, Naphtha (petroleum) by cracking,
monomer of the polymer polyethylene (PE)
European Bioplastics e.V. | The industry association
representing the interests of Europe’s
thriving bioplastics’ industry. Founded
in Germany in 1993 as IBAW, European Bioplastics
today represents the interests of over
70 member companies throughout the European
Union. With members from the agricultural
feedstock, chemical and plastics industries,
as well as industrial users and recycling
companies, European Bioplastics serves as
both a contact platform and catalyst for advancing
the aims of the growing bioplastics
industry.
Extrusion | process used to create plastic
profiles (or sheet) of a fixed cross-section
consisting of mixing, melting, homogenising
and shaping of the plastic.
Fermentation | Biochemical reactions controlled
by → microorganisms or → enyzmes (e.g.
the transformation of sugar into lactic acid).
FSC | Forest Stewardship Council. FSC is an
independent, non-governmental, not-forprofit
organization established to promote the
responsible and sustainable management of
the world’s forests.
Gelatine | Translucent brittle solid substance,
colorless or slightly yellow, nearly tasteless
and odorless, extracted from the collagen inside
animals‘ connective tissue.
Genetically modified organism (GMO) | Organisms,
such as plants and animals, whose
genetic material (DNA) has been altered
are called genetically modified organisms
(GMOs). Food and feed which contain or
consist of such GMOs, or are produced from
GMOs, are called genetically modified (GM)
food or feed [1]
Global Warming | Global warming is the rise
in the average temperature of Earth’s atmosphere
and oceans since the late 19th century
and its projected continuation [8]. Global
warming is said to be accelerated by → green
house gases.
Glucose | Monosaccharide (or simple sugar).
G. is the most important carbohydrate (sugar)
in biology. G. is formed by photosynthesis or
hydrolyse of many carbohydrates e. g. starch.
Greenhouse gas GHG | Gaseous constituent
of the atmosphere, both natural and anthropogenic,
that absorbs and emits radiation at
specific wavelengths within the spectrum of
infrared radiation emitted by the earth’s surface,
the atmosphere, and clouds [1, 9]
Greenwashing | The act of misleading consumers
regarding the environmental practices
of a company, or the environmental benefits
of a product or service [1, 10]
Granulate, granules | small plastic particles
(3-4 millimetres), a form in which plastic is
sold and fed into machines, easy to handle
and dose.
Humus | In agriculture, ‘humus’ is often used
simply to mean mature → compost, or natural
compost extracted from a forest or other
spontaneous source for use to amend soil.
Hydrophilic | Property: ‘water-friendly’, soluble
in water or other polar solvents (e.g. used
in conjunction with a plastic which is not water
resistant and weather proof or that absorbs
water such as Polyamide (PA).
Hydrophobic | Property: ‘water-resistant’, not
soluble in water (e.g. a plastic which is water
resistant and weather proof, or that does not
absorb any water such as Polyethylene (PE)
or Polypropylene (PP).
IBAW | → European Bioplastics
Industrial composting | Industrial composting
is an established process with commonly
agreed upon requirements (e.g. temperature,
timeframe) for transforming biodegradable
waste into stable, sanitised products to be
used in agriculture. The criteria for industrial
compostability of packaging have been defined
in the EN 13432. Materials and products
complying with this standard can be certified
and subsequently labelled accordingly [1, 7]
[bM 06/08, bM 02/09]
Integral Foam | foam with a compact skin and
porous core and a transition zone in between.
ISO | International Organization for Standardization
JBPA | Japan Bioplastics Association
LCA | Life Cycle Assessment (sometimes also
referred to as life cycle analysis, ecobalance,
and → cradle-to-grave analysis) is the investigation
and valuation of the environmental
impacts of a given product or service caused.
[bM 01/09]
Microorganism | Living organisms of microscopic
size, such as bacteria, funghi or yeast.
Molecule | group of at least two atoms held
together by covalent chemical bonds.
Monomer | molecules that are linked by polymerization
to form chains of molecules and
then plastics
Mulch film | Foil to cover bottom of farmland
PBAT | Polybutylene adipate terephthalate, is
an aliphatic-aromatic copolyester that has the
properties of conventional polyethylene but is
fully biodegradable under industrial composting.
PBAT is made from fossil petroleum with
first attempts being made to produce it partly
from renewable resources [bM 06/09]
PBS | Polybutylene succinate, a 100% biodegradable
polymer, made from (e.g. bio-BDO)
and succinic acid, which can also be produced
biobased [bM 03/12].
PC | Polycarbonate, thermoplastic polyester,
petroleum based, used for e.g. baby bottles
or CDs. Criticized for its BPA (→ Bisphenol-A)
content.
40 bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9

Basics
PCL | Polycaprolactone, a synthetic (fossil
based), biodegradable bioplastic, e.g. used as
a blend component.
PE | Polyethylene, thermoplastic polymerised
from ethylene. Can be made from renewable
resources (sugar cane via bio-ethanol)
[bM 05/10]
PET | Polyethylenterephthalate, transparent
polyester used for bottles and film
PGA | Polyglycolic acid or Polyglycolide is a
biodegradable, thermoplastic polymer and
the simplest linear, aliphatic polyester. Besides
ist use in the biomedical field, PGA has
been introduced as a barrier resin [bM 03/09]
PHA | Polyhydroxyalkanoates are linear polyesters
produced in nature by bacterial fermentation
of sugar or lipids. The most common
type of PHA is → PHB.
PHB | Polyhydroxybutyrate (better poly-3-hydroxybutyrate),
is a polyhydroxyalkanoate
(PHA), a polymer belonging to the polyesters
class. PHB is produced by micro-organisms
apparently in response to conditions of physiological
stress. The polymer is primarily a
product of carbon assimilation (from glucose
or starch) and is employed by micro-organisms
as a form of energy storage molecule to
be metabolized when other common energy
sources are not available. PHB has properties
similar to those of PP, however it is stiffer and
more brittle.
PHBH | Polyhydroxy butyrate hexanoate (better
poly 3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate)
is a polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA),
Like other biopolymers from the family of the
polyhydroxyalkanoates PHBH is produced by
microorganisms in the fermentation process,
where it is accumulated in the microorganism’s
body for nutrition. The main features of
PHBH are its excellent biodegradability, combined
with a high degree of hydrolysis and
heat stability. [bM 03/09, 01/10, 03/11]
PLA | Polylactide or Polylactic Acid (PLA), a
biodegradable, thermoplastic, linear aliphatic
polyester based on lactic acid, a natural acid,
is mainly produced by fermentation of sugar
or starch with the help of micro-organisms.
Lactic acid comes in two isomer forms, i.e.
as laevorotatory D(-)lactic acid and as dextrorotary
L(+)lactic acid. In each case two
lactic acid molecules form a circular lactide
molecule which, depending on its composition,
can be a D-D-lactide, an L-L-lactide
or a meso-lactide (having one D and one L
molecule). The chemist makes use of this
variability. During polymerisation the chemist
combines the lactides such that the PLA
plastic obtained has the characteristics that
he desires. The purity of the infeed material is
an important factor in successful polymerisation
and thus for the economic success of the
process, because so far the cleaning of the
lactic acid produced by the fermentation has
been relatively costly [12].
Modified PLA types can be produced by the
use of the right additives or by a combinations
of L- and D- lactides (stereocomplexing),
which then have the required rigidity for use
at higher temperatures [13] [bM 01/09]
Plastics | Materials with large molecular
chains of natural or fossil raw materials, produced
by chemical or biochemical reactions.
PPC | Polypropylene Carbonate, a bioplastic
made by copolymerizing CO 2
with propylene
oxide (PO) [bM 04/12]
Renewable Resources | agricultural raw materials,
which are not used as food or feed, but
as raw material for industrial products or to
generate energy
Saccharins or carbohydrates | Saccharins or
carbohydrates are name for the sugar-family.
Saccharins are monomer or polymer sugar
units. For example, there are known mono-,
di- and polysaccharose. → glucose is a monosaccarin.
They are important for the diet and
produced biology in plants.
Semi-finished products | plastic in form of
sheet, film, rods or the like to be further processed
into finshed products
Sorbitol | Sugar alcohol, obtained by reduction
of glucose changing the aldehyde group
to an additional hydroxyl group. S. is used as
a plasticiser for bioplastics based on starch.
Starch | Natural polymer (carbohydrate)
consisting of → amylose and → amylopectin,
gained from maize, potatoes, wheat, tapioca
etc. When glucose is connected to polymerchains
in definite way the result (product) is
called starch. Each molecule is based on 300
-12000-glucose units. Depending on the connection,
there are two types → amylose and →
amylopectin known. [bM 05/09]
Starch derivate | Starch derivates are based
on the chemical structure of → starch. The
chemical structure can be changed by introducing
new functional groups without changing
the → starch polymer. The product has
different chemical qualities. Mostly the hydrophilic
character is not the same.
Starch-ester | One characteristic of every
starch-chain is a free hydroxyl group. When
every hydroxyl group is connect with ethan
acid one product is starch-ester with different
chemical properties.
Starch propionate and starch butyrate |
Starch propionate and starch butyrate can be
synthesised by treating the → starch with propane
or butanic acid. The product structure
is still based on → starch. Every based → glucose
fragment is connected with a propionate
or butyrate ester group. The product is more
hydrophobic than → starch.
Sustainable | An attempt to provide the best
outcomes for the human and natural environments
both now and into the indefinite future.
One of the most often cited definitions of sustainability
is the one created by the Brundtland
Commission, led by the former Norwegian
Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland.
The Brundtland Commission defined sustainable
development as development that ‘meets
the needs of the present without compromising
the ability of future generations to meet
their own needs.’ Sustainability relates to the
continuity of economic, social, institutional
and environmental aspects of human society,
as well as the non-human environment).
Sustainability | (as defined by European Bioplastics
e.V.) has three dimensions: economic,
social and environmental. This has been
known as “the triple bottom line of sustainability”.
This means that sustainable development
involves the simultaneous pursuit of
economic prosperity, environmental protection
and social equity. In other words, businesses
have to expand their responsibility to include
these environmental and social dimensions.
Sustainability is about making products useful
to markets and, at the same time, having societal
benefits and lower environmental impact
than the alternatives currently available. It also
implies a commitment to continuous improvement
that should result in a further reduction
of the environmental footprint of today’s products,
processes and raw materials used.
Thermoplastics | Plastics which soften or
melt when heated and solidify when cooled
(solid at room temperature).
Thermoplastic Starch | (TPS) → starch that
was modified (cooked, complexed) to make it
a plastic resin
Thermoset | Plastics (resins) which do not
soften or melt when heated. Examples are
epoxy resins or unsaturated polyester resins.
Vinçotte | independant certifying organisation
for the assessment on the conformity of bioplastics
WPC | Wood Plastic Composite. Composite
materials made of wood fiber/flour and plastics
(mostly polypropylene).
Yard Waste | Grass clippings, leaves, trimmings,
garden residue.
References:
[1] Environmental Communication Guide,
European Bioplastics, Berlin, Germany,
2012
[2] ISO 14067. Carbon footprint of products -
Requirements and guidelines for quantification
and communication
[3] CEN TR 15932, Plastics - Recommendation
for terminology and characterisation
of biopolymers and bioplastics, 2010
[4] CEN/TS 16137, Plastics - Determination
of bio-based carbon content, 2011
[5] ASTM D6866, Standard Test Methods for
Determining the Biobased Content of
Solid, Liquid, and Gaseous Samples Using
Radiocarbon Analysis
[6] SPI: Understanding Biobased Carbon
Content, 2012
[7] EN 13432, Requirements for packaging
recoverable through composting and biodegradation.
Test scheme and evaluation
criteria for the final acceptance of packaging,
2000
[8] Wikipedia
[9] ISO 14064 Greenhouse gases -- Part 1:
Specification with guidance..., 2006
[10] Terrachoice, 2010, www.terrachoice.com
[11] Thielen, M.: Bioplastics: Basics. Applications.
Markets, Polymedia Publisher,
2012
[12] Lörcks, J.: Biokunststoffe, Broschüre der
FNR, 2005
[13] de Vos, S.: Improving heat-resistance of
PLA using poly(D-lactide),
bioplastics MAGAZINE, Vol. 3, Issue 02/2008
[14] de Wilde, B.: Anaerobic Digestion, bioplastics
MAGAZINE, Vol 4., Issue 06/2009
bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9 41

Politics
shutterstock, YaiSirichai
By
Thomas Vink
Assistant Manager
Latitude Ltd.
Seoul, South Korea
www.atlatitude.com
The
bioplastics
industry
in Korea
The global bioplastics market is booming – total production
capacity is set to grow 400% by 2017, and the European
Commission has designated bioplastics as a lead
market. The Korean bio-industry is also growing, with production
valued at 7.12 trillion Won (around € 5.1 billion) in 2012,
and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announcing in
April 2014 that around 215 billion Won (over € 154 million)
will be invested into the bio-chemicals industry over the next
5 years. Despite this growth in the bio-industry, the Korean
market for bioplastics remains small, and internationally accessible
information is hard to find. In April and May 2014,
Latitude talked to a number of key players in the industry to
find out more about the market for bioplastics in Korea.
It is hard to imagine, driving through the rice fields and
foothills of Moga-myeon, (a little town near Icheon), that just
down the road thousands of biodegradable plastic sheets are
being produced every day. Green Chemical Ltd. constructed
their plant in 2006 and started producing plastic sheets
made from 100% biodegradable PLA. These PLA sheets
are now used in items such as food containers, and sold
in supermarkets and department stores. Green Chemical
imports 100 tonnes of raw PLA material every month, and is
looking forward to growth in the biodegradable waste bag and
soil cover markets. While they have found success, Deputy
General Manager Hwang Dae-youn claims that the market for
PLA is only about 200 tonnes per month, still much less than
1% of the total plastic market in Korea. On the other hand, the
market for PET is 100 times larger at around 20,000 tonnes
per month. It is easy to see why companies are sceptical
about this sector of the new industry.
However, Korea has an established history of R&D into the
biomaterials industry. To help grow the bioplastics market,
the Korea Biodegradable Plastics Association (KBPA) was
established in 1999. The scope of the association was expanded
in 2008 to cover (fully and partly) biobased polymers in addition
to fully biodegradable polymers, and is now called the Korean
Bioplastics Association. The KBPA Chairperson, Prof. Chin
42 bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9

Politics
Seoul
South Korea
In-Joo, claims that Korean companies have been investing in
bioplastics since 1993. Prof. Chin believes companies in Korea
have developed the materials and have done the research, but
the “balance is not yet right,” and getting the message out
about bioplastics has proved to be a difficult task.
The general consensus is that government regulations
have not been kind to the bioplastics industry. Hwang Dae
Youn would like government regulations to change in order to
help grow the industry. “Antipathy is plaguing the industry”,
he claims. Currently, the standards in Korea are so few that
many organisations are ignoring bioplastics or believe it
has no future. Even when former President Lee Myung Bak
invested heavily into green industries, and “bioplastics did not
really benefit” according to Prof. Chin In-Joo.
J.J. Hwang, a senior research engineer at SK Chemicals,
claims that current government policy “dates from 20 years
ago,” and “is an obstacle to the growth of the bio-industry…
it is preventing a boom!”. SK Chemicals has invested into
both biodegradable and biobased plastics, but because of the
market situation it has been difficult to get these products
into mainstream use.
There are also claims that the bioplastics market has
remained small because of a focus only on biodegradable
plastics. Korea Biomaterial Packaging Association
Chairperson, Prof. You Young-sun, believes that a lack
of usability and durability of biodegradable plastic are
weaknesses that prevent the materials from being a viable
option at the moment. J.J. Hwang recommends that, for now,
we have to forget about the biodegradability of plastic and
instead focus on “getting out of petroleum.” He states that
“biodegradable material is just one of many materials in this
industry.” and laments the fact that only fully biodegradable
plastics are excluded from charges under Korea’s Extended
Producer Responsibility (EPR) system. He believes that
products listed under the EPR need to be able to state a biocontents
policy, where charges are reduced depending on how
much biodegradable material is used. With a bio-contents
policy manufacturers could make products that are bio-based
but still cost effective and multi-use. In this way, use of PLA
and other biobased products would become more popular,
and the proportion of biomass content used could gradually
be increased as bioplastic products become normalized and
prices fall.
Jang Seok-chan, Head Office Administration Manager at
the newly formed Korea Packaging Recycling Cooperative,
gave Latitude an in-depth view covering the EPR and Korea’s
recycling system. To summarise, the EPR system is effective
in many respects and has worked well at increasing the
recycling rate. For this reason Korea’s EPR system has
been rightly praised by many. But there appear to be several
loopholes where the policy could be abused. The concept of
passing on responsibility to someone else along the chain,
whilst doing just enough to pass a certain quota, has meant
that no party really has any reason to advance the system or
make it more eco-friendly. Korea’s Ministry of Environment
has even acknowledged this issue, stating “there have been
insufficient efforts deployed in adding higher value to the
recycling industry.”
Currently, the bioplastics market is too small for
biodegradable and/or biobased plastic to be recycled in
the main stream, and thus waste PLA is collected and
incinerated. Therefore, if one wants to recycle bioplastics,
one must increase the quantity of the product used. Prof.
Chin In-Joo echoed this point, claiming that “plastic made
from 100% PLA can be collected and recycled [but] quantity
is important.” Prof. Chin went on to state that composting
could be an even better solution, both environmentally and
economically, but that Korea needs to invest in a proper
composting infrastructure. Either way, facilities for recycling
and composting are lacking. There is plenty of room for new
technological solutions that can upgrade Korea’s recycling
facilities and help to efficiently recycle or compost more
types of plastic material. Currently, according to Prof. Chin,
of all plastic waste, only PET plastic is recycled, and even
that is incinerated if it has been in contact with food. Trying
to boost the bioplastics industry by pushing for a change in
government regulations has proved so far fruitless. Therefore,
the most likely way forward, in terms of boosting the industry,
is to grow the market. Companies like Green Chemical Ltd.,
whose sales are growing, have proved that there is a market
for bioplastics, if you have clear goals, a narrow focus, are
willing to collaborate locally and internationally, and have a
well-developed promotional campaign.
Given the knowledge and technology that so many
companies and associations in Korea have the potential
for expansion of the bioplastics industry is high. However,
investment in research and material production alone has
proved lacking in terms of outcome. Now, if the bioplastics
market is to grow without a change to government regulations,
then manufacturers need to stand up and start producing and
promoting bioplastic products.
For a copy of the full report, please contact Latitude.
bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9 43

Opinion
Mass Balance
Can ISSC PLUS certification be
misleading – if the bio-based
share is not labelled too?
Comment by Michael Carus, nova-Institute
Bridging the gap
to a sustainable bio
based economy
Comment by Dr. Jan Henke (ISCC PLUS)
On 23 April 2014 SABIC announced “that it will launch its first
portfolio of certified renewable polyolefins, certified under the
ISCC Plus certification scheme, which involves strict traceability
and requires a chain of custody based on a mass balance system.
The portfolio, which includes renewable polyethylenes (PE) and
polypropylenes (PP), responds to the increasing demand for
sustainable materials from SABIC’s customers.”
Imagine you see the new SABIC PE or PP granulates with the
label ISCC PLUS which claims “Certified Sustainability” – what
will you think about the product? What does it mean?
Are all of the PE or PP granulates themselves “certified as
sustainable”? Or is it the feedstock used for the production of the
material?
The truth is: Neither of them are! The certification applies only
to the biomass share of the feedstock and the granulates, without
any information on the actual quantity of the share.
SABIC uses certified sustainable “animal fats and waste” in
their crackers: “We have optimized our technology to allow the
production of renewable PP and PE using renewable feedstocks,
which are made from waste fats.”
But there is no minimum share of biomass required. So even if
SABIC uses only 5% (certified) biomass and 95% crude oil for their
PE and PP production, the ISCC PLUS label on the granulate still
claims “Certified Sustainability” – although 95% of the feedstock
and the product are not bio-based and therefore NOT certified as
sustainable!
We think that this is not a good idea. This could be misleading
and can be harmful to the ISCC PLUS label and the companies
using it. Some NGOs might (and will) call it green-washing. Is
SABIC trying to get a GreenPremium price without having relevant
additional costs?
We suggest that the ISCC PLUS label – as well as other labels
such as RSB – should only be used in direct correlation to the
quantified share of the bio-based feedstock which they classify.
That means in detail:
It has to be clear that the label is only for the bio-based share
of the feedstock in the product.
That would mean in practice: The bio-based carbon content
should always be labelled too – for example using the established
label from Vinçotte or DIN CERTCO.
Why a mass balance approach for
sustainability certification and clear
claims are essential
The industrial use of bio based resources in
particular in the chemical sector is stagnating.
To increase their share, sustainable supply
chains must be built up. This must be
economically viable and sustainable. In the
beginning it is only possible with low physical
shares in the final product. Opponents of this
approach argue that claims should only be
made for a high physical share. These demands
are out of the ivory tower. They negate the fact
that for many producers a direct switch to high
physical shares doubles costs or is in practical
terms not feasible. The baby would be thrown
out with the bath water. The share of certified
bio based resources would decline.
Under the mass balance approach,
companies producing different outputs
from the same feedstock (e.g. an integrated
chemical site) can allocate the certified
sustainable bio based share to only one or
several out of all outputs. Under the global
sustainability certification system ISCC PLUS
there are two major prerequisites to do this:
The certified sustainable output volume
can never exceed the equivalent amount of
certified feedstock.
Clear claims must be used. They must
reference the mass balance approach and
never the physical content, unless this is
clearly detectable.
In the SABIC case the claim is not “certified
sustainability” or “X% physical share of
certified sustainable feedstock”. SABIC and
their customers must always make reference
to the mass balance approach. Other claims
shall not be made.
To promote the bio based economy it
is essential to start with a mass balance
Nova-Institut GmbH
Hürth, Germany
www.nova-institut.de
44 bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9

Opinion
RSB approach to
certification of
bio-based chemicals
Comment by Melanie Williams (RSB)
approach that allows smaller
ratios of certified sustainable
feedstock. Integrated sites using
thousands of tons of fossil and
non-sustainable feedstock cannot
from one day to the other switch
to certified sustainable bio based
inputs. Further on the input can be
spread over hundreds of outputs.
A physical analysis (e.g. 14 C) may
only detect a small bio content for
a specific product. A mass balance
approach would enable a company
to allocate the bio content to a
specific product. When demand
is increasing other products can
be included. At a certain point
in time high physical shares will
also become economically viable.
Therefore, the mass balance
approach is a stepping-stone
towards the bio based economy.
Opponents are freezing the current
situation and will contribute to
the stagnation of the bio based
economy, although they claim
aiming to achieve the opposite.
The physical segregation of
certified sustainable feedstock
or the proof of relevant physical
contents is also possible with ISCC
PLUS. It might be an advantage
to companies producing from
100% certified sustainable
material or with high detectable
shares. To increase the share of
certified sustainable biomass in
the chemical industry ISCC PLUS
is promoting the use of both
mass balance and segregation.
This allows companies to reach
higher shares on a continuous
improvement basis and to promote
the bio based economy.
Bio-based alternatives are
increasingly being used to substitute
petroleum-derived products.
Manufacturers of bio-based materials
are keen to show consumers that
their products have been produced
responsibly from sustainable biomass;
certification to a reputed Voluntary
Sustainability Standard is the
preferred option. The Roundtable on
Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) is the
environmental and social certification
that came out as the top performer in
recent studies commissioned by WWF
[1] and IUCN [2].
As manufacturers take their first
steps towards producing bio-based
drop-in chemicals, there will often
be the need to use existing facilities,
which currently process petroleum
derived/fossil materials, somewhere
in the supply chain. This will inevitably
lead to the dilution of the bio-based
material with fossil material. However,
consumers will want to be assured
that product labeled as ‘bio-based’
contain a minimum bio content. After
a wide-ranging public consultation,
RSB has set a requirement for a
minimum of 25% bio-based content.
This requirement specifies that the
annual, average bio-based content,
measured according to ASTM D6866,
CEN/TS 16137 or any equivalent
protocol, shall not be less than 25% by
weight. A mass balance approach can
be used to cope with a fluctuating biobased
content as long as the annual
average is always shown to exceed
the 25% threshold. This average
bio-based content should be stated
on the product documentation and
packaging.
An RSB certified biochemical
manufacturer can make a claim on
their product or packaging that their
product mix contains RSB compliant
bio-chemicals. Companies can also
make a claim in their marketing and
publicity that they support socially
and environmentally responsible
production of biomass, bio-chemicals
and bio-products.
SABIC and BASF are to be
congratulated for using bio-based
feedstock, but under the RSB system
they could not use a specific claim
on their products until they reached
the 25% threshold. So how should a
company obtain recognition for their
efforts in the early stages of replacing
fossil-based products with biobased
ones? They can get credit with
consumers by showing that they are
in compliance with the RSB Principles
and Criteria for environmental and
social sustainability. As they increase
the bio-based content of their products
to meet the minimum 25% threshold,
they are then ready to make a strong
claim that their product is bio-based,
and that their product meets the
robust bio-based sustainability
criteria in the RSB standard.
Related to this, RSB is currently
considering the introduction of
certificates, which are sold separately
to the product, (commonly called a
‘book-and-claim’ system) to help
manufacturers source sustainable
bio-based feedstock even when none
may be available in proximity to their
manufacturing sites. This will also
help companies in the early stages of
replacing fossil-based products with
bio-based alternatives.
ISCC System GmbH
Köln – Germany
www.iscc-system.org
[1] http://wwf.panda.org/?uNewsID=212791
[2] https://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/betting_
on_best_quality.pdf
Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB)
Geneva, Switzerland
www.rsb.org
bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9 45

Suppliers Guide
1. Raw Materials
AGRANA Starch
Thermoplastics
Conrathstrasse 7
A-3950 Gmuend, Austria
Tel: +43 676 8926 19374
lukas.raschbauer@agrana.com
www.agrana.com
Shandong Fuwin New Material Co., Ltd.
Econorm ® Biodegradable &
Compostable Resin
North of Baoshan Road, Zibo City,
Shandong Province P.R. China.
Phone: +86 533 7986016
Fax: +86 533 6201788
Mobile: +86-13953357190
CNMHELEN@GMAIL.COM
www.sdfuwin.com
FKuR Kunststoff GmbH
Siemensring 79
D - 47 877 Willich
Tel. +49 2154 9251-0
Tel.: +49 2154 9251-51
sales@fkur.com
www.fkur.com
39 mm
Simply contact:
Tel.: +49 2161 6884467
suppguide@bioplasticsmagazine.com
Stay permanently listed in the
Suppliers Guide with your company
logo and contact information.
For only 6,– EUR per mm, per issue you
can be present among top suppliers in
the field of bioplastics.
For Example:
Polymedia Publisher GmbH
Dammer Str. 112
41066 Mönchengladbach
Germany
Tel. +49 2161 664864
Fax +49 2161 631045
info@bioplasticsmagazine.com
www.bioplasticsmagazine.com
Showa Denko Europe GmbH
Konrad-Zuse-Platz 4
81829 Munich, Germany
Tel.: +49 89 93996226
www.showa-denko.com
support@sde.de
DuPont de Nemours International S.A.
2 chemin du Pavillon
1218 - Le Grand Saconnex
Switzerland
Tel.: +41 22 171 51 11
Fax: +41 22 580 22 45
plastics@dupont.com
www.renewable.dupont.com
www.plastics.dupont.com
Tel: +86 351-8689356
Fax: +86 351-8689718
www.ecoworld.jinhuigroup.com
jinhuibio@126.com
Jincheng, Lin‘an, Hangzhou,
Zhejiang 311300, P.R. China
China contact: Grace Jin
mobile: 0086 135 7578 9843
Grace@xinfupharm.com
Europe contact(Belgium): Susan Zhang
mobile: 0032 478 991619
zxh0612@hotmail.com
www.xinfupharm.com
1.1 bio based monomers
Corbion Purac
Arkelsedijk 46, P.O. Box 21
4200 AA Gorinchem -
The Netherlands
Tel.: +31 (0)183 695 695
Fax: +31 (0)183 695 604
www.corbion.com/bioplastics
bioplastics@corbion.com
1.2 compounds
GRAFE-Group
Waldecker Straße 21,
99444 Blankenhain, Germany
Tel. +49 36459 45 0
www.grafe.com
PolyOne
Avenue Melville Wilson, 2
Zoning de la Fagne
5330 Assesse
Belgium
Tel.: + 32 83 660 211
www.polyone.com
WinGram Industry CO., LTD
Great River(Qin Xin)
Plastic Manufacturer CO., LTD
Mobile (China): +86-13113833156
Mobile (Hong Kong): +852-63078857
Fax: +852-3184 8934
Email: Benson@wingram.hk
Sample Charge:
39mm x 6,00 €
= 234,00 € per entry/per issue
Sample Charge for one year:
6 issues x 234,00 EUR = 1,404.00 €
The entry in our Suppliers Guide is
bookable for one year (6 issues) and
extends automatically if it’s not canceled
three month before expiry.
Evonik Industries AG
Paul Baumann Straße 1
45772 Marl, Germany
Tel +49 2365 49-4717
evonik-hp@evonik.com
www.vestamid-terra.com
www.evonik.com
API S.p.A.
Via Dante Alighieri, 27
36065 Mussolente (VI), Italy
Telephone +39 0424 579711
www.apiplastic.com
www.apinatbio.com
1.3 PLA
Shenzhen Esun Ind. Co;Ltd
www.brightcn.net
www.esun.en.alibaba.com
bright@brightcn.net
Tel: +86-755-2603 1978
1.4 starch-based bioplastics
www.facebook.com
www.issuu.com
www.twitter.com
www.youtube.com
Natureplast
11 rue François Arago
14123 Ifs – France
Tel. +33 2 31 83 50 87
www.natureplast.eu
t.lefevre@natureplast.eu
Kingfa Sci. & Tech. Co., Ltd.
No.33 Kefeng Rd, Sc. City, Guangzhou
Hi-Tech Ind. Development Zone,
Guangdong, P.R. China. 510663
Tel: +86 (0)20 6622 1696
info@ecopond.com.cn
www.ecopond.com.cn
FLEX-162 Biodeg. Blown Film Resin!
Bio-873 4-Star Inj. Bio-Based Resin!
Limagrain Céréales Ingrédients
ZAC „Les Portes de Riom“ - BP 173
63204 Riom Cedex - France
Tel. +33 (0)4 73 67 17 00
Fax +33 (0)4 73 67 17 10
www.biolice.com
46 bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9

Suppliers Guide
1.6 masterbatches
6. Equipment
6.1 Machinery & Molds
BIOTEC
Biologische Naturverpackungen
Werner-Heisenberg-Strasse 32
46446 Emmerich/Germany
Tel.: +49 (0) 2822 – 92510
info@biotec.de
www.biotec.de
GRAFE-Group
Waldecker Straße 21,
99444 Blankenhain, Germany
Tel. +49 36459 45 0
www.grafe.com
Taghleef Industries SpA, Italy
Via E. Fermi, 46
33058 San Giorgio di Nogaro (UD)
Contact Frank Ernst
Tel. +49 2402 7096989
Mobile +49 160 4756573
frank.ernst@ti-films.com
www.ti-films.com
4. Bioplastics products
Molds, Change Parts and Turnkey
Solutions for the PET/Bioplastic
Container Industry
284 Pinebush Road
Cambridge Ontario
Canada N1T 1Z6
Tel. +1 519 624 9720
Fax +1 519 624 9721
info@hallink.com
www.hallink.com
ROQUETTE
62 136 LESTREM, FRANCE
00 33 (0) 3 21 63 36 00
www.gaialene.com
www.roquette.com
Grabio Greentech Corporation
Tel: +886-3-598-6496
No. 91, Guangfu N. Rd., Hsinchu
Industrial Park,Hukou Township,
Hsinchu County 30351, Taiwan
sales@grabio.com.tw
www.grabio.com.tw
Wuhan Huali
Environmental Technology Co.,Ltd.
No.8, North Huashiyuan Road,
Donghu New Tech Development
Zone, Wuhan, Hubei, China
Tel: +86-27-87926666
Fax: + 86-27-87925999
rjh@psm.com.cn, www.psm.com.cn
1.5 PHA
TianAn Biopolymer
No. 68 Dagang 6th Rd,
Beilun, Ningbo, China, 315800
Tel. +86-57 48 68 62 50 2
Fax +86-57 48 68 77 98 0
enquiry@tianan-enmat.com
www.tianan-enmat.com
Metabolix, Inc.
Bio-based and biodegradable resins
and performance additives
21 Erie Street
Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
US +1-617-583-1700
DE +49 (0) 221 / 88 88 94 00
www.metabolix.com
info@metabolix.com
PolyOne
Avenue Melville Wilson, 2
Zoning de la Fagne
5330 Assesse
Belgium
Tel.: + 32 83 660 211
www.polyone.com
2. Additives/Secondary raw materials
GRAFE-Group
Waldecker Straße 21,
99444 Blankenhain, Germany
Tel. +49 36459 45 0
www.grafe.com
Rhein Chemie Rheinau GmbH
Duesseldorfer Strasse 23-27
68219 Mannheim, Germany
Phone: +49 (0)621-8907-233
Fax: +49 (0)621-8907-8233
bioadimide.eu@rheinchemie.com
www.bioadimide.com
3. Semi finished products
3.1 films
Huhtamaki Films
Sonja Haug
Zweibrückenstraße 15-25
91301 Forchheim
Tel. +49-9191 81203
Fax +49-9191 811203
www.huhtamaki-films.com
www.earthfirstpla.com
www.sidaplax.com
www.plasticsuppliers.com
Sidaplax UK : +44 (1) 604 76 66 99
Sidaplax Belgium: +32 9 210 80 10
Plastic Suppliers: +1 866 378 4178
Minima Technology Co., Ltd.
Esmy Huang, Marketing Manager
No.33. Yichang E. Rd., Taipin City,
Taichung County
411, Taiwan (R.O.C.)
Tel. +886(4)2277 6888
Fax +883(4)2277 6989
Mobil +886(0)982-829988
esmy@minima-tech.com
Skype esmy325
www.minima-tech.com
Natur-Tec ® - Northern Technologies
4201 Woodland Road
Circle Pines, MN 55014 USA
Tel. +1 763.404.8700
Fax +1 763.225.6645
info@natur-tec.com
www.natur-tec.com
NOVAMONT S.p.A.
Via Fauser , 8
28100 Novara - ITALIA
Fax +39.0321.699.601
Tel. +39.0321.699.611
www.novamont.com
President Packaging Ind., Corp.
PLA Paper Hot Cup manufacture
In Taiwan, www.ppi.com.tw
Tel.: +886-6-570-4066 ext.5531
Fax: +886-6-570-4077
sales@ppi.com.tw
ProTec Polymer Processing GmbH
Stubenwald-Allee 9
64625 Bensheim, Deutschland
Tel. +49 6251 77061 0
Fax +49 6251 77061 500
info@sp-protec.com
www.sp-protec.com
6.2 Laboratory Equipment
MODA: Biodegradability Analyzer
SAIDA FDS INC.
143-10 Isshiki, Yaizu,
Shizuoka,Japan
Tel:+81-54-624-6260
Info2@moda.vg
www.saidagroup.jp
7. Plant engineering
EREMA Engineering Recycling
Maschinen und Anlagen GmbH
Unterfeldstrasse 3
4052 Ansfelden, AUSTRIA
Phone: +43 (0) 732 / 3190-0
Fax: +43 (0) 732 / 3190-23
erema@erema.at
www.erema.at
Uhde Inventa-Fischer GmbH
Holzhauser Strasse 157–159
D-13509 Berlin
Tel. +49 30 43 567 5
Fax +49 30 43 567 699
sales.de@uhde-inventa-fischer.com
Uhde Inventa-Fischer AG
Via Innovativa 31
CH-7013 Domat/Ems
Tel. +41 81 632 63 11
Fax +41 81 632 74 03
sales.ch@uhde-inventa-fischer.com
www.uhde-inventa-fischer.com
bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9 47

Suppliers Guide
9. Services
10.2 Universities
Biopolynov
11 rue François Arago
14123 Ifs – France
Tel. +33 2 31 83 50 87
www. biopolynov.com
t.lefevre@natureplast.eu
Osterfelder Str. 3
46047 Oberhausen
Tel.: +49 (0)208 8598 1227
Fax: +49 (0)208 8598 1424
thomas.wodke@umsicht.fhg.de
www.umsicht.fraunhofer.de
Institut für Kunststofftechnik
Universität Stuttgart
Böblinger Straße 70
70199 Stuttgart
Tel +49 711/685-62814
Linda.Goebel@ikt.uni-stuttgart.de
www.ikt.uni-stuttgart.de
narocon
Dr. Harald Kaeb
Tel.: +49 30-28096930
kaeb@narocon.de
www.narocon.de
nova-Institut GmbH
Chemiepark Knapsack
Industriestrasse 300
50354 Huerth, Germany
Tel.: +49(0)2233-48-14 40
E-Mail: contact@nova-institut.de
www.biobased.eu
Bioplastics Consulting
Tel. +49 2161 664864
info@polymediaconsult.com
UL International TTC GmbH
Rheinuferstrasse 7-9, Geb. R33
47829 Krefeld-Uerdingen, Germany
Tel.: +49 (0) 2151 5370-370
Fax: +49 (0) 2151 5370-371
ttc@ul.com
www.ulttc.com
10. Institutions
10.1 Associations
BPI - The Biodegradable
Products Institute
331 West 57th Street, Suite 415
New York, NY 10019, USA
Tel. +1-888-274-5646
info@bpiworld.org
European Bioplastics e.V.
Marienstr. 19/20
10117 Berlin, Germany
Tel. +49 30 284 82 350
Fax +49 30 284 84 359
info@european-bioplastics.org
www.european-bioplastics.org
IfBB – Institute for Bioplastics
and Biocomposites
University of Applied Sciences
and Arts Hanover
Faculty II – Mechanical and
Bioprocess Engineering
Heisterbergallee 12
30453 Hannover, Germany
Tel.: +49 5 11 / 92 96 - 22 69
Fax: +49 5 11 / 92 96 - 99 - 22 69
lisa.mundzeck@fh-hannover.de
http://www.ifbb-hannover.de/
Michigan State University
Department of Chemical
Engineering & Materials Science
Professor Ramani Narayan
East Lansing MI 48824, USA
Tel. +1 517 719 7163
narayan@msu.edu
‘Basics‘ book on bioplastics
This book, created and published by Polymedia Publisher, maker of bioplastics MAGA-
ZINE is available in English and German language.
The book is intended to offer a rapid and uncomplicated introduction into the subject
of bioplastics, and is aimed at all interested readers, in particular those who have not yet
had the opportunity to dig deeply into the subject, such as students or those just joining
this industry, and lay readers. It gives an introduction to plastics and bioplastics, explains
which renewable resources can be used to produce bioplastics, what types of bioplastic
exist, and which ones are already on the market. Further aspects, such as market development,
the agricultural land required, and waste disposal, are also examined.
An extensive index allows the reader to find specific aspects quickly, and is complemented
by a comprehensive literature list and a guide to sources of additional information
on the Internet.
The author Michael Thielen is editor and publisher bioplastics MAGAZINE. He is a qualified
machinery design engineer with a degree in plastics technology from the RWTH
University in Aachen. He has written several books on the subject of blow-moulding
technology and disseminated his knowledge of plastics in numerous presentations,
seminars, guest lectures and teaching assignments.
110 pages full color, paperback
ISBN 978-3-9814981-1-0: Bioplastics
ISBN 978-3-9814981-0-3: Biokunststoffe
Order now for € 18.65 or US-$ 25.00 (+ VAT where applicable, plus shipping and handling, ask for details)
order at www.bioplasticsmagazine.de/books, by phone +49 2161 6884463 or by e-mail books@bioplasticsmagazine.com
Or subscribe and get it as a free gift (see page 69 for details, outside German y only)
48 bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9

Events
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2 nd International Conference
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24.08.2014 - 28.08.2014 - Visegrád, Hungary
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09.09.2014 - 10.09.2014 - Brussels, Belgium
Thon EU Hotel Brussels
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World Bio Markets Brasil
24.09.2014 - 26.09.2014 - Sao Paulo, Brasil
www.greenpowerconferences.com/BF1409BR
International Symposium on BioPolymers - ISBP2014
29.09.2014 - 01.10.2014 - Santos, Brazil
Mendez Plaza Hotel
www.isbp2014.com
2 nd Bioplastic Materials Topical Conference 2014
01.10.2014 - 02.10.2014 - Chicago, Ilinois,USA
Embassy Suite Hotel, Schaumburg
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9549w6z5d5 47f5&llr=7ppotodab
Bioproducts World 2014
05.10.2014 - 08.10.2014 - Columbus, OH, USA
Columbus Convention Centre
www.bioproductsworld.org/general_registration.php
ISSN 1862-5258
Highlights
May/June
03 | 2014
BioEnvironmental Polymer Society
14.10.2014 - 17.10.2014 - Kansas City, USA
Kauffman Foundation Conference Center
www.beps.org
Injection Moulding | 10
Thermoset | 34
4. Kooperationsforum Biopolymere
21.10.2014 - Straubing, Germany
Joseph-von-Fraunhofer-Halle
www.bayern-innovativ.de/biopolymere2014
bioplastics MAGAZINE Vol. 9
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Bio-based Plastics – How do we Grow the EU Industry?
01.12.2014 - Brussels, Belgium
The Square Brussels
http://bio-tic-workshops.eu/bio-based_plastics/
9 th European Bioplastics Conference
02.12.2014 - 03.12.2014 - Brussels, Belgium
The Square, Brussels
http://en.european-bioplastics.org/conference/
3 rd Conference on Carbon Dioxide
as Feedstock for Chemistry and Polymers
02.12.2014 - 03.12.2014 - Essen, Germany
Haus der Technik
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bio!pac - biobased packaging
12.05.2015 - 13.05.2015 - Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Novotel, Amsterdam City
www.bio-pac.info
bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9 49

Companies in this issue
Company Editorial Advert Company Editorial Advert Company Editorial Advert
Aescap Venture 23
Agrana Starch Thermoplastics 46
AIMPLAS 22
Aljuan 22
Almuplas 22
Alpla 23
API 46
Armacell Benelux 10
Aster Capital 23
Avantium 23
Basaltex 10
BASF 3, 44
Bayern Innovativ 21
Bcomp 10
Beologic 10
Biopolynov 48
Biotec 47
Biowerth 10
BPI 48
Braskem 8, 29
Capricorn Ventrure Partners 23
Cereplast 7
CNR 22
Coca-Cola 5, 6, 7, 23, 31
Corbion 46
Cornell University 14
Coza 15
Danone 23
De Hoge Dennen Capital 23
Deutsches Kunststoffmuseum 36
DIN Certco 44
DuPont 25 46
Erema 47
Espaçoplas 22
European Bioplastics 48
European Ind. Hemp Ass. 10
Evonik Industries 46, 51
FKuR 28, 37 2, 46
Fonti di Vinadio 24
Ford Motor Company 6
Forum Technol. & Wirtsch. 10
Fraunhofer UMSICHT 48
Galactica 24
Grabio Greentech 47
Grafe 46, 47
Green Chemical 42
Greencover 28
Güth & Wolf 10
Hallink 47
Heinz 6
Huntsman 19
ING Venture Partners 23
Inst. f. bioplastics & biocomposites 48
ISCC System 44
Isowood 10
Jakob Winter 10
Jinhui Zhaolong 46
John Deere 14
KHS Corpoplast 26
Kingfa 46
Korea Biomat. Packaging Ass. 42
Korea Packaging Recycl. Coop. 42
Korean Bioplastics Association 42
Latitude 42
Limagrain Céréales Ingrédients 46
Lineo 18
Mahle 25
Maverick Enterprises 28
Meredian 5
Michigan State University 48
narocon 48
Natureplast 46
NatureWorks 24, 28
Natur-Tec 47
Navitas Capital 23
Nike 6
nova-Institut 10, 30, 32, 44 48
Novamont 47, 52
Öko-Institut 31
Organic Waste Systems 22
Plastic Suppliers 28 47
plasticker 27
polymediaconsult 48
PolyOne 46, 47
President Packaging 47
Procter & Gamble 6
ProTec Polymer Processing 47
PSM 47
Qmilch Deutschland 37
Reed Exhibitions 10 34
Roquette 47
Rotho 15
Roundtable on Sust. Biomat. (RSB) 45
Sabic 3, 44
Saida 47
Samas 15
SeaWorld 7
Shandong Fuwin 10, 46
Shenzhen Esun Industrial 46
Showa Denko 46
SK Chemicals 42
Sofinnova Partners 23
Sonae Industria 12
Swire Pacific 23
Tecnaro 15
Tetra Pak 29
Toyota 31
Trellis Earth 7
Trinchero Family Estates 28
Uhde Inventa-Fischer 35, 47
UL Thermoplastics 48
Univ.Stuttgart (IKT) 37 48
University of Guelph 20
Vinçotte 44
Vizelplas 22
VLB 22
WinGram 46
Wuhan Huali 17, 47
Zhejiang Hangzhou Xinfu Pharm. 46
Editorial Planner 2014
Issue Month Publ.-Date
edit/ad/
Deadline
05/2014 September/October 06.10.14 06.09.14 Fiber / Textile /
Nonwoven
Editorial Focus (1) Editorial Focus (2) Basics
Toys
Building Blocks
06/2014 November/December 01.12.14 01.11.14 Films / Flexibles /
Bags
Subject to changes
Consumer
Electronics
Sustainability
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50 bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9